~ 


"The  Great  Rei<-- 


GIFT  OF 
ctf  ilO 


OE  Win  &  SNEtiiMi 


T 


"The  Great  Reformation" 
A  Great  Mistake 


"His  liberal  soul  with  every  sect  agreed, 
Unheard  their  reasons,  he  received  their  creed." 

Crabbe. 


BY  A  LAYMAN 


SAN    FRANCISCO 


Sviltil  (fciat 


REV.    JOSEPH    C.    SASIA,    S.    J., 
Censor   Deputatus. 


imprimatur 


P.    W.    RIORDAN, 

Archbishop   of    San    Francisco. 
September,    1912. 


, 
*  THE  ''JAMES  H.«  RJ^RRY-  ,  OOMPAN  y 


CONTENTS. 

Page 

Introduction   vii 

Unity    1 

Infallibility    31 

The  Primacy  of  Peter 54 

The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 68 

Papal  Infallibility   95 

The  Bible    108 

The  Holy  Eucharist 137 

Of  Communion  in  One  Kind 163 

The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass 167 

The  Sacrament  of  Penance 182 

The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 208 

Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead 231 

Indulgences    246 

Misrepresentations  by   Protestant   Missionaries  and 

Others   259 

History  Since  the  Advent  of  Protestantism 287 

Conclusion                                                                        ,  325 


29 


PREFACE. 

Two  words  that  begin  with  the  same  letter.  The 
first  a  negative,  the  second  a  positive.  The  first  a  small 
word,  the  second  a  giant.  The  small  word  contains 
one  more  letter  than  the  large  word,  which  is  in  the 
nature  of  a  surprise.  The  small  word  is  with  poor 
reason  written  with  a  large  letter,  the  large  word  with 
good  reason  with  a  small  letter.  Protestant — prejudice: 
are  the  "Siamese  Twins"  in  words  that  have  dined  and 
supped  with  thousands,  the  former  acknowledged  with 
pride,  the  latter  undiscovered  at  the  festive  board,  in- 
visible at  the  library  table. 

We  ask  the  former — in  the  plural — to  divest  them- 
selves of  the  latter  quality  of  mind,  that  they  who  have 
spent  part  of  a  life-time  in  gazing  upon  one  side  of 
the  shield,  may  with  us  contemplate  for  a  brief  period 
the  beauties  of  the  other.  No  opinions  so  stable  as 
those  early  formed,  which  is  both  a  help  and  a  hin- 
drance for  we  should  never  be  averse  to  a  reversal 
of  our  former  judgment,  if  that  judgment  be  found 
under  the  scrutiny  of  a  greater  searchlight,  to  have  been 
ill-formed. 

Protestants  have  received  their  religious  opinions  and 
beliefs  from  their  own  teachers  which  is  but  fair,  but 
their  investigations  along  the  line  and  within  the  realms 
of  catholic  truth  have  generally  been  conducted  under 
the  same  teachers,  which  is  manifestly  unfair.  In  the 
hope  that  many  candid  minds,  hitherto  familiar  with 


iv  Preface 

one  side  only,  will  here  find  reason  for  a  reconsideration 
of  the  subject,  and  if  not  satisfied  will  continue  their 
quest  in  other  books,  till  certainly  shall  result — for  one 
cannot  well  be  satisfied  with  less  where  eternity  is  at 
stake — this  book  is  written. 

One  cannot  well  be  accused  of  undue  haste  in  rushing 
into  print  who  has — though  in  small  degree — borne  the 
heat  and  burden  of  the  day  for  five  and  thirty  years 
since  first  the  light  of  a  new  day  shot  its  golden  rays 
over  the  somber  mountains  of  doubt,  bringing  the  old 
faith,  ever  new,  as  a  season  of  clear  shining  after  rain ; 
a  welcome  and  a  glad  surprise. 

It  cannot  well  be  wrong  to  give  one's  reasons  for 
being  right.  In  the  pages  following  the  endeavor  will 
be  to  show  that  the  much  heralded  "Great  Reforma- 
tion" was  a  great,  a  fatal  mistake,  because  it  sought 
the  reformation  of  the  doctrines  revealed  by  God  him- 
self, rather  than  reformation  of  the  lives  of  those  for 
whose  ultimate  salvation  the  doctrines  had  been  re- 
vealed. 

A  great  mistake,  because  through  the  rejection  of  all 
authority  in  the  person  of  an  infallible  head,  they  with- 
drew from  that  unity  enjoined  by  the  Saviour  of  men 
and  which,  for  them,  resulted  in  the  downfall  of  all 
authority  and  order  in  religion.  Also  by  the  further 
great  and  fatal  mistake  made  in  the  introduction  of  a 
novelty  styled  "Private  Judgment" — the  herald  of  the 
coming  sects  and  cults — by  which  the  world  was  flooded 
with  an  army  of  self-appointed  fallible  explainers  of  an 
infallible  book,  whereby  all  certainty  regarding  the 
book's  true  meaning  was  for  them  forever  lost. 


Preface  v 

The  separate  counts  in  the  indictment  of  "The  Great 
Reformation,"  will  be  specialized  in  the  chapters  fol- 
lowing. It  should  be  kept  in  mind  that  it  is  the  un- 
doubted right  of  all  to  criticize  the  principles,  and  be- 
liefs, of  their  opponents  so  long  as  they  keep  to  the 
truth,  and  no  longer.  This  will  be  illustrated  in  the 
chapter  entitled  "History  Since  the  Advent  of  Protes- 
tantism." In  the  chapter  treating  of  the  Misrepresen- 
tations by  Missionaries  and  others,  the  subject  of 
Charity  will  assume  prominence. 

It  should  be  remembered,  too,  that  we  are  fighting 
principles,  not  people,  and  in  this,  we  but  follow  the 
precept  of  St.  Augustine,  which  says:  "Love  men,  but 
kill  their  errors."  So  while  we  can  give  protestantism 
no  favorable  mention,  we  respect  and  esteem  those 
protestants  who  in  perfect  good  faith — notwithstanding 
the  clogs  of  their  prejudiced  and  circumscribed  environ- 
ment— are  doing  the  best  they  know  for  the  glory  of 
God  and  the  salvation  of  souls.  In  that  day  when  the 
secrets  of  all  hearts  shall  be  revealed,  the  charity  of 
catholics  for  their  separated  brethren  will  be  found  as 
wide  as  earth's  boundaries,  as  vast  as  the  heavens. 


Sincere  thanks  are  here  returned  for  the  excerpts 
taken  from  many  distinguished  writers,  and  notably 
those  citations  from  protestant  pens  which — without 
their  intention — have  admirably  served  in  substantiating 
the  truth  and  reasonableness  of  the  catholic  position. 

Our  obligations  are  also  acknowledged  to  the  San 
Francisco  Monitor,  for  many  excellent  quotations  from 
its  columns. 

To  the  learned  Jesuit  author  Father  Sasia  of  San 
Jose,  Cal.,  great  appreciation  is  due  for  many  helpful 
suggestions. 

THE  AUTHOR. 


INTRODUCTION. 

The  English  speaking  people  having  been  since  the 
"Great  Reformation"  to  a  large  extent  protestant,  it 
naturally  follows  that  English  literature  should  be  also 
largely  protestant. 

The  books  of  history  or  travel,  which  you  take  from 
the  library  shelves,  the  magazines  and  pamphlets,  which 
you  take  to  the  seashore,  the  books  in  the  public  schools, 
together  with  that  great  former  of  public  opinion,  the 
press,  are  all  in  tone  and  spirit  unmistakably  protestant. 
The  English  dictionary,  upon  close  inspection,  proves 
to  be  like  the  others  named,  a  protestant  book. 

The  world  which  at  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire 
had  lapsed  into  barbarism,  had,  with  the  coming  of  the 
Christian  faith,  received  a  greater  illumination  from  the 
feeble  rushlight  of  the  catacombs  which,  with  ever  ex- 
panding and  intensified  brilliancy  penetrated  the  dark 
corners  of  the  earth,  and  in  place  of  the  classic  splen- 
dors of  a  civilization  under  pagan  rule,  brought  Chris- 
tian civilization  and  the  healing  of  the  nations  in  its 
beams. 

The  immensity  of  the  work,  of  converting  and  civil- 
izing a  world,  cannot  be  rightly  valued  by  those  who 
have  received  its  benefits  as  an  inheritance  only.  For 
centuries  the  Church  Universal  had  striven  with  igno- 
rance and  pagan  superstition,  with  vice  and  irreligion, 
and  had  suffered  repeated  spoliation  at  the  hands  of 
covetous  and  barbaric  princes;  when  at  last  with  the 
passing  of  the  fanatical  Lollards,  she  had  been  led  to 


viii  Introduction 

hope  for  a  season  of  well  merited  rest — protestantism 
took  its  rise  in  the  rebellion  of  the  Monk  Martin 
Luther. 

In  Luther's  taking  refuge  under  the  sheltering  arms 
of  the  German  princes,  was  made  manifest  the  prudence 
of  the  unjust  steward.  With  the  moral  and  financial 
support  of  the  temporal  power  assured,  his  appeal  was 
largely  to  the  dissatisfied  and  inconstant  who  were 
filled  with  enthusiasm  at  the  contemplation  of  a  religion 
that  not  only  possessed  the  charm  of  novelty,  but  prom- 
ised much  in  the  emancipation  of  the  mind  from  the 
restraints  of  the  old  time  authority,  and  in  the  sup- 
pression of  practices  humiliating  to  pride,  which  made 
the  yoke  of  service  to  the  Master  uneasy  and  the  bur- 
den the  reverse  of  light. 

As  usual  with  reformers,  the  cry  was  mostly  of 
corruption,  and  reliance  was  largely  placed  upon  the 
use  of  irreverent  and  revolutionary  language  inter- 
spersed with  the  rough,  coarse  humor  of  the  time 
which,  as  we  read,  Luther  himself  did  not  disdain  to 
use.  At  the  outset  Monasticism  was  singled  out  as  pre- 
senting the  most  favorable  target  for  this  kind  of  war- 
fare. 

THE    MONKS. 

The  "reformers"  accordingly  brought,  from  the  cen- 
turies long  past,  the  life  history  of  the  Monks,  and 
placed  them  on  trial.  It  is  easy  to  find  fault  with  the 
past;  safe  to  abuse  the  dead  whose  bones  have  mingled 
with  the  dust  of  ages  gone  by.  A  trial  in  which  one 
side  only  is  argued  is  the  precursor  of  conviction. 

The  pictures  of  the  Monks,  of  the  centuries  prior  to 


Introduction  ix 

'The  Great  Reformation,"  drawn  by  protestant  pens 
pointed  with  satire  and  dipped  in  gall ;  at  first  a  hid- 
eous distortion,  by  succeeding  artists  enlarged  and  fur- 
ther embellished,  are  still  on  exhibition  as  true  likenesses 
of  those  noble  men,  who,  in  toil  and  fasting,  in  their 
rude  and  comfortless  monasteries,  kept  trimmed  the 
lamp  of  Christianity,  and  the  light  of  learning  and 
civilization  burning,  in  the  early  ages  of  the  Christian 
faith. 

Concerning  the  lives  of  the  Monks,  the  researches  of 
Doctor  Lingard,  from  the  opportunities  at  his  disposal 
for  investigation  together  with  his  acknowledged  fair- 
ness, entitle  him  to  be  considered  a  reliable  authority. 
He  says : 1  "To  secure  the  correct  living  of  their  dis- 
ciples, the  monks  had  adopted  the  most  effectual  pre- 
cautions which  human  ingenuity  could  devise.  The 
necessity  of  mortifying  every  irregular  inclination  was 
inculcated  both  by  precept  and  example.  The  sobriety 
of  their  meals,  and  the  meanness  of  their  dress,  recalled 
to  their  minds  that  they  had  renounced  the  world  and 
had  dedicated  their  souls  to  the  service  of  God. 

"The  gates  of  the  convent  were  shut  against  the 
intrusion  of  strangers,  visits  of  pleasure  were  forbidden, 
and  the  monk  whom  the  necessities  of  the  community 
forced  from  his  cell,  was  constantly  attended  by  two 
companions. 

"To  the  precautions  of  prudence  were  added  the  mo- 
tives of  religion.  The  praises  of  chastity  were  sung 
by  the  poets  and  extolled  by  the  preachers.  Its  votaries 
were  taught  to  consider  themselves  as  the  immaculate 
spouses  of  the  Lamb,  and  to  them  was  promised  the 

i  Anglo    Saxon    Church.      Lingard,    p.    80. 


x  Introduction 

transcendent  reward  which  the  book  of  Revelation 
describes.  But  where  thousands  unite  in  the  same  per- 
suit,  it  is  impossible  that  all  should  be  animated  with 
the  same  spirit  or  persevere  with  the  same  resolution. 

"Of  these  recluses  there  were  undoubtedly  some  whom 
passion  or  seduction  prompted  to  violate  their  solemn 
engagements ;  but  the  unsullied  reputation  of  an  immense 
majority  contributed  to  cast  a  veil  over  the  shame  of 
the  weaker  brethren."  In  another  place  the  same 
author  says :  2  "In  the  monastic  establishments  of  the 
earlier  centuries,  the  most  sublime  of  the  Gospel  virtues 
were  practiced;  even  kings  descended  from  their  thrones 
and  exchanged  the  scepter  for  the  cowl." 

Historian  Hassall  informs  us  that  3  "in  the  monasteries 
in  Gaul  A.  D.  486,  piety  and  learning  secured  a  home, 
and  they  became  strong  enough  to  triumph  over  law- 
less violence.  No  institutions  of  that  time  could  com- 
pare in  sound  usefulness  with  the  monasteries  which 
sprang  up  all  over  Gaul  and  Germany,  and  taught  the 
people  the  elements  of  agriculture  as  well  as  the 
ordinary  arts  of  civilization.  In  the  monasteries  of 
these  countries  and  throughout  the  civilized  world  was 
to  be  found  all  the  education  and  knowledge  which  then 
existed." 

The  historian  Hume  says :  4  "It  is  rare,  that  the  annals 
of  so  uncultivated  a  people  as  were  the  English,  as  well 
as  were  the  other  European  nations  after  the  decline  of 
Roman  learning,  have  been  transmitted  to  posterity  so 
complete  and  with  so  little  mixture  of  falsehood  and 


2  Ibid.   p.   86. 

3  "The  French  People,"   p.   24. 

4  History  of  England,   Vol.   II,   p.   507. 


Introduction  xi 

fable.  This  advantage  we  owe  entirely  to  the  Church 
of  Rome,  whose  clergy  founding  their  authority  on 
their  superior  knowledge,  preserved  the  precious  litera- 
ture of  antiquity  from  total  extinction.  In  the  collection 
of  letters  which  passes  under  the  name  of  Thomas  A. 
Becket,  we  see  how  familiar  all  the  ancient  books  were 
to  the  dignified  churchman  of  that  time,  and  conse- 
quently how  much  that  order  of  men  must  have  sur- 
passed all  the  other  members  of  society." 

5  "The  Anglo  Saxon  monks  of  the  seventh  and  eighth 
centuries  were,"  says  Doctor  Lingard,  "men  who  had 
abandoned  the  world  through  the  purest  motives,  and 
whose  great  solicitude  was  to  practice  their  profession. 
They  refrained  from  the  use  of  flesh,  wine  and  beer, 
refused  the  assistance  of  slaves,  and  with  their  own 
hands  cultivated  the  deserts  that  surrounded  them.  In 
investigating  the  manners  of  a  class  of  men  who  lived  in 
a  remote  period,  it  is  difficult  to  restrain  the  excursions 
of  the  fancy;  but  if  passion  be  permitted  to  guide  the 
inquiry,  possible  are  frequently  substituted  for  real 
occurrences;  and  what  might  have  been  the  guilt  of  a 
few  individuals,  is  confidently  ascribed  to  the  many. 

"If  in  the  theology  of  the  monks  6  'to  patronize  the 
order  was  esteemed  the  first  of  virtues,'  if  they  taught 
that 7  'the  foundation  of  a  monastery  was  the  secure 
road  to  heaven,'  and  that  8  'a  bountiful  donation  would 
efface  the  guilt  of  the  most  deadly  sins  without  repent- 
ance/ they  were  undoubtedly  the  corruptors  of  morality, 
and  the  enemies  of  mankind.  But  of  these  doctrines  no 

5  "Anglo  Saxon  Church,"  p.   890-1. 

6  "Hume's  Hist.   Eng.,"   pp.    42-77. 

7  "Reflect,   on   Popery,"   p.   31.     Sturges. 

8  Henry,   Vol.  IV,   p.   299. 


xii  Introduction 

vestige  remains  in  their  writings,  and  we  have  yet  to 
learn  from  what  source  their  modern  adversaries  derive 
the  important  information." 

The  "Venerable  Bede"  taught  that  "no  offering, 
though  made  to  a  monastery,  could  be  pleasing  to  God, 
if  it  proceeded  from  an  impure  conscience."  The  Coun- 
cil of  Calcuith  taught  that  "repentance  was  then  only 
of  avail,  when  it  impelled  the  sinner  to  lament  his  past 
offences,  and  restrained  him  from  committing  them 
again."  "The  man,"  say  the  prelates  at  the  Synod  of 
Cloveshoe,  "who  indulges  his  passions  in  the  confidence 
that  his  charities  will  procure  his  salvation,  instead  of 
making  an  acceptable  offering  to  God,  throws  himself 
into  the  arms  of  Satan." 

Such  were  the  plain  and  uncompromising  teachings 
of  the  Monks  of  the  Early  Ages  of  faith,  whom  such 
writers  as  Sturges,  Henry,  Lord,  D.  Aubigne,  Goldwin 
Smith  and  others,  knew  only  through  the  partisan  tes- 
timony of  their  most  bitter  enemies.  Up  to  the  time 
of  "The  Great  Reformation,"  the  Monks  were  feeding 
the  poor  at  their  monastery  gates  and  were  busily 
engaged  in  making,  with  pen  and  many  colored  inks, 
those  beautifully  illuminated  copies  on  parchment  of  the 
Sacred  Scriptures,  for  which  the  Anglo  Saxon  and  Irish 
Monks  were  so  justly  celebrated. 

But  for  all  that  has  been,  or  can  be,  said  in  their 
favor,  it  would  be  unwise  for  any  friend  of  the  Monks 
to  deny  that  they  were  guilty  of  being  among  those 
whom  our  modern  brethren  are  accustomed  to  disparage 
as  being  men  of  one  idea.  No  refutation  of  this  charge 
will  be  attempted,  and  it  is  admitted  that  in  the  further- 
ance of  that  one  idea,  they  alike  toiled,  rested  and  took 


Introduction  xiii 

necessary  refreshment.  From  their  comfortless  pallets, 
at  the  call  of  the  chapel  bell,  they  rose  a  long  time 
before  day,  to  hear  or  say  Mass,  and  to  chant  the  psalms 
of  David. 

If,  in  the  fields,  they  followed  the  plow  or  cleared 
the  forest's  tangled  growth,  led  forth,  at  morning's  light, 
the  flocks  and  herds  to  pasture;  it  was  for  this  one 
idea.  If,  in  the  Scriptorium,  they  labored  with  the  pen, 
writing  often  in  letters  of  gold  the  Bible,  word  for 
word,  sketches  made  of  landscapes  beautiful  for  the  mar- 
gins of  their  Gospel  Books,  or,  in  the  fields  without, 
sought  inspiration  where  wild  flowers  bent  their  heads 
in  stately  compliment  to  each  passing  breeze  that,  in  its 
wake,  brought  songs  of  countless  happy  birds  whose 
delight  in  sounding  the  praise  of  God  without  the  dim 
old  chapel's  cloistered  walls,  rivaled  successfully  the 
greatest  efforts  of  the  Monks  within — this,  also,  was  for 
the  one  idea. 

If  they  taught  the  youth,  entrusted  to  their  care,  the 
holy  faith  and  other  general  learning  in  the  fields  of 
science  and  of  art,  as  far  as  was  then  known,  the  secret 
of  their  unfailing  patience  with  restless  inattention  and 
mediocrity  in  attainment,  was  the  all  pervading  one  idea. 
As  the  water  from  an  upland  spring  winds,  as  a  thread 
of  silver,  through  the  greenery  of  the  meadows  far 
below,  giving  life  and  freshness  to  the  ferns  and  flower- 
ing plants  that  spring  into  life  along  its  banks,  this 
one  idea  was,  to  the  Monks,  the  source  and  mainspring 
of  their  actions  and  their  life.  And  this  one  idea  was 
the  love  of  God,  and  the  love  of  man  for  His  sake. 

An    anonymous    writer,    about    the    year    1591,    thus 


xiv  Introduction 

describes  the  Monks  on  the  eve  of  "The  Great  Reforma- 
tion." 9  "The  Monks  taught  and  preached  the  faith  and 
good  works  and  practiced  the  same  both  in  word  and 
deed;  not  only  within  the  monasteries  but  all  abroad 
without.  .  .  .  They  made  such  provision  daily  for 
the  poor  and  needy,  that  very  few  lacked  relief.  Yea, 
many  of  them  made  hospitals  and  lodgings  wherein 
they  kept  a  number  of  important  persons  with  all  neces- 
saries for  them,  besides  the  great  alms  they  gave  daily 
at  their  gates.  Yea,  no  wayfaring  person  could  depart 
without  a  night's  lodging,  meat  and  drink. 

"They  taught  the  unlearned;  yea,  the  poor  as  well  as 
the  rich.  There  was  no  person  that  came  to  them 
heavy  or  sad,  that  went  away  comfortless.  They  never 
revenged  themselves  of  any  injury,  but  forgave  it  freely 
upon  submission.  And  if  the  price  of  corn  had  begun  to 
start  up  in  the  markets,  they  made  thereunto  with  wain- 
loads  of  corn,  and  sold  it  under  the  market  price  to 
poor  people  to  the  end  to  bring  down  the  price  thereof. 
If  the  highways  were  tedious  to  the  passengers  that 
sought  their  living  by  their  travel,  their  great  help 
lacked  not  towards  the  repair  and  amendment  thereof. 

"If  any  poor  householder  had  lacked  seed  to  sow  his 
land,  or  corn  or  malt,  before  the  harvest,  and  come 
to  the  monastery,  he  should  have  had  it  until  harvest. 
Yea,  if  he  had  made  his  moan  for  an  ox,  horse  or 
cow,  he  might  have  had  it  on  his  credit." 

"It  might  be  objected,"  says  Doctor  Gasquet,  "that 
this  is  a  fancy  picture  drawn  after  date;  but  not  merely 

»  "Henry  VIII.,  and  the  Eng.  Monasteries,"  Gasquet,  Vol.  II, 
p.  500. 


Introduction  xv 

is  it  the  work  of  one  who  well  remembered  the  ancient 
days,  but  it  agrees  entirely  with  the  declaration  of 
Robert  Aske,  written  half-a-century  before,  to  say  noth- 
ing of  many  other  cotemporary  testimonies  and  well 
ascertained  facts." 

Sir  Thomas  More  in  his  "Apology"  says :  "I  myself, 
see  sometimes  so  many  poor  folk  at  Westminster  at  the 
doles,  of  whom  so  far  as  I  have  ever  heard,  the  Monks 
are  not  wont  to  send  many  away  unserved,  that  I  have 
for  the  press  of  them  been  fain  to  ride  another  way." 

Before  the  advent  of  the  protestant  historian,  the 
common  fame  of  the  monasteries  was  that  of  eleemos- 
ynary corporations,  and  that  the  Monks  themselves  were 
in  the  van  in  all  learning  and  the  peaceful  vocations  of 
life.  When  protestant  historians  search  the  annals  of 
the  Monks,  and  dig  and  delve  among  the  dusty  tomes 
of  an  almost  forgotten  lore,  it  is,  that  Christian  resig- 
nation may  not  fail  them  at  finding  there  some  records 
that  might  likely  shun  the  blaze  of  noon.  They  could 
not  seek  a  better  source  for  their  purpose.  The  writers 
of  the  Monkish  Chronicles,  were  the  brethren  of  the 
order,  and  it  was  never  their  custom  to  trumpet  their 
own  praise ;  to  do  good  works  was  the  distinguishing 
characteristic  of  each  day's  occupation,  the  sum  total  of 
which  remains  unwritten ;  but,  were  there  among  them  a 
weak  and  an  offending  Brother ;  the  record  of  his  mis- 
deeds, in  their  entirety,  stood  boldly  out  upon  the  page — 
an  ink-spot — on  white  parchment, — that  all  the  brother- 
hood seeing  how,  and  by  what  means,  he  fell,  might,  by 
the  reading  of  it,  take  warning  and  flee  from  a  like 
temptation. 


xvi  Introduction 

Were  twenty  to  be  asked  concerning  the  distinguish- 
ing qualities  and  acts  of  the  several  Apostles,  a  moment's 
thought  might  be  necessary  before  replying,  but  were 
the  question  raised  anent  the  betrayal  of  the  Divine 
Master,  the  answering  chorus  would  be  instantaneous. 
So  stands  out  from  a  quiet  and  unnoticed  background 
of  good  deeds  a  single  act  of  crime.  So  the  act  of  one 
false  brother,  may  serve  to  cloud  the  fair  fame  of  an 
entire  order,  whose  members  were,  not  least,  among  the 
noblest  of  men. 

Considering  then  that  the  good  deeds  done  by  the 
Monks  of  old  have,  by  the  world  outside  the  Catholic 
Church,  been  mostly  forgotten,  and  themselves,  by  their 
irreverent  adversaries,  sufficiently  caricatured :  Why  may 
not  the  historian  and  the  artist  allow  the  dead  to  rest, 
and  assist  in  preserving  the  memory  of  their  good  deeds ; 
allowing  their  evil  deeds — if  it  be  granted  they  had  any 
—to  remain  in  the  obscurity  of  the  tombs  that  hold 
their  bones. 

THE    ENGLISH     INQUISITION. 

Considering  the  number  of  pages  in  history  which 
are  available  for  a  description  of  the  cruelties  of  the 
Spanish  Inquisition,  it  is  surprising  that  so  small  a  space 
should  suffice  for  a  narration  of  far  greater  cruelties 
perpetrated  in  the  English  Inquisition.  The  Spanish 
Inquisition  was  instituted,  largely,  for  the  punishment 
of  such  crimes  against  the  state  as  would  ordinarily 
be  amenable  to  criminal  courts ;  the  English  Inquisi- 
tion for  its  object  had  the  uprooting  from  the  land 


Introduction  xvii 

of  that  faith  which,  in  the  early  centuries,  had  received 
its  establishment  at  the  desire  of  the  Roman  Pontiff. 

Fines,  imprisonment,  death,  the  trinity  of  punishments 
in  unity  with  this  settled  purpose  of  the  "reformers." 
The  protestant  writer,  John  Richard  Green  says :  10  "As 
the  royal  policy  disclosed  itself,  as  the  Monarchy 
trampled  under  foot  the  tradition  and  reverence  of  ages 
gone  by,  as  its  figure  rose  bare  and  terrible  out  of  the 
wreck  of  old  institutions,  England  simply  held  her 
breath." 

How,  in  the  years  of  his  increasing  acts  of  despotism, 
Henry  browbeat  a  timid  parliament  into  complete  sub- 
servience to  his  will,  all  history  makes  known  to  us. 
Having  completed  the  details  connected  with  his  change 
of  wives — for  conscience  sake — Henry  turned  his  cove- 
tous eyes  upon  the  possessions  of  the  Monks.  During 
his  investigations,  along  this  pleasing  line  of  duty, 
Henry  found  that  the  religious  houses  were  sadly  in 
need  of  moral  "reform."  As  we  have  seen,  in  matters 
connected  with  conscience,  Henry's  practice  was  to  brook 
no  delay  in  the  establishment  of  suitable  reforming 
methods.  As  historian  Traill  says :  n  "The  wealthiest 
corporation  of  the  realm  was  to  be  despoiled:  Nobles, 
gentry,  merchants,  lawyers,  invited  by  the  Crown,  made 
haste  to  the  feast."  From  the  same  authority  we  learn 
that  12  "Henry  suppressed  six  hundred  and  forty-four 
monasteries,  ninety  colleges,  two  thousand  three  hundred 
and  seventy-four  free  chapels,  and  one  hundred  and  ten 


10  "Hist,   of  the   English  People,"   p.   164. 

11  "Social   Eng.,"   pp.   50-1. 

12  Ibid.,   p.    128. 


xviii  Introduction 

hospitals.  More  than  eighty-eight  thousand  persons 
were  cast  adrift  by  the  suppression  of  the  first  named 
alone.  This  must  have  greatly  aggravated  the  existing 
poverty  and  the  struggle  for  existence." 

According  to  Doctor  Jessop :  13  "The  monasteries 
were  plundered  even  to  their  very  pots  and  pans.  The 
almshouses,  in  which  old  men  and  women  were  fed  and 
clothed,  were  robbed  to  the  last  pound,  the  poor  alms- 
folk  being  turned  out  in  the  cold  at  an  hour's  warning 
to  beg  their  bread.  The  splendid  hospitals  for  the  sick 
and  needy.  .  .  .  These  were  stripped  of  all  their 
belongings,  the  inmates  sent  out  to  hobble  into  some 
convenient  dry  ditch  to  lie  down  and  die  in,  or  to  crawl 
into  some  barn  or  house,  there  to  be  tended,  not  with- 
out fear  of  consequences,  by  some  kindly  man  or 
woman,  who  could  not  bear  to  see  a  suffering  fellow- 
creature  drop  down  and  die  at  their  own  door-posts." 

England,  in  "pre-reformation"  days,  was  known  all 
over  the  world  as  "Merrie  England" — a  name  imply- 
ing a  love  for  outdoor  sports,  athletic  contests,  and 
innocent  amusements,  so  happily  described  by  Walter 
Scott, — which,  with  the  advent  of  that  reign  of  blood 
and  terror  which  ushered  in  the  new  religion — passed 
away  forever. 

The  "reformation"  in  England  was  the  result,  in  part, 
of  the  breaking  of  that  commandment  which  treats  of 
the  sin  of  covetousness.  The  interminable  wars  between 
England,  France,  and  other  nations,  largely  engaged  in 
as  a  healthful  stimulus  to  the  pride  of  kings,  drained 
the  countries  mentioned  of  their  wealth,  and  it  became 

13  "Parish    Life   in   Eng.,"    p.    432. 


Introduction  xix 

often  necessary  to  resort  to  questionable  methods  for 
the  expanding  of  the  country's  deflated  exchequer. 

An  equitable  proportion  of  the  commonwealth  of 
Christendom  had,  from  the  beginning,  in  its  several 
empires  and  kingdoms  been  set  aside  for  the  mainte- 
nance of  religion — that  institution  which  had  made  the 
state  possible;  and  a  fair  allowance  again  from  the  first- 
mentioned  sum,  for  the  support  of  Christ's  Vicar  at 
Rome.  In  the  English  government  there  were  many 
who  had  long  cast  envious  eyes  upon  the  various  sums 
— greatly  exaggerated — that  yearly  found  their  way  to 
the  Chief  Shepherd,  and  which  it  was  desired  to  keep 
at  home  for  use  in  furthering  those  wars  of  conquest 
and  aggression  which  should  later  on  make  possible  the 
proud  declaration  that  "the  sun  never  sets  on  British 
dominions."  The  spoliation  of  Peter,  for  the  purpose 
of  carrying  on  war  or  the  purchase  of  peace,  was  often 
resorted  to  by  the  Catholic  sovereigns  of  Europe. 

The  "reformation"  in  some  degree  may  be  imputed  to 
the  caricatures,  the  invectives,  and  the  irreverence  of  the 
Humanists,  which  helped  to  further  feelings  of  dissent 
among  the  people.  The  awakening,  at  this  time,  of  the 
spirit  of  commercialism  and  worldliness  among  many, 
resulted  in  a  gradual  falling  away  from  the  old-time 
strictness  in  religion's  sweet  observances,  thereby  giving 
scandal  to  the  discontented  and  inconstant,  and  further 
paving  the  way  for  the  success  of  that  most  sad  of  all 
mistakes :  "The  Great  Reformation." 

The  inspiration  of  all  good  works  will  most  naturally 
be  looked  for  as  coming  from  above,  but  the  work  under 
consideration  seems  to  have  been  set  in  motion  in  Eng- 


xx  Introduction 

land  by  a  tyrannical  and  immoral  king,  in  part,  to  dis- 
tract the  attention  of  his  subjects  from  their  monarch's 
sins  through  the  hope  of  temporal  benefits  to  be  received 
in  the  wholesale  robbery  and  slaughter  of  the  Monks. 
Thus  the  "reformation"  had  its  inspiration  not  from 
above,  but  from  below,  and  was  at  all  times  character- 
ized by  a  desire  to  acquire  the  good  things  of  this  world, 
rather  than  to  do  works  of  self-abnegation  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  world  to  come. 

The  Anglican  Bishop  Stubbs  says :  14  "Where  protes- 
tantism was  an  idea  only,  as  in  France  and  Italy,  it  was 
crushed  out  by  the  Inquisition;  where  in  conjunction 
with  political  power,  and  sustained  by  ecclesiastical  con- 
fiscation, it  became  a  physical  force,  there  it  was  lasting. 
It  is  not  a  pleasant  view  to  take  of  the  doctrinal  changes, 
to  see  that  where  the  movements  toward  it  were  pure 
and  unworldly,  it  failed ;  where  it  was  seconded  by 
territorial  greed  and  political  animosity,  it  succeeded." 

The  protestant  historian  Lecky  says :  15  "But  what 
shall  we  say  of  a  church,  that  was  but  a  thing  of  yester- 
day, a  church  that  had  as  yet  no  services  to  show,  no 
claims  upon  the  gratitude  of  mankind ;  a  church  that  was 
by  profession  the  creature  of  private  judgment,  but  was 
in  reality  generated  by  the  intrigues  of  a  corrupt  Court, 
which  nevertheless,  suppressed  by  force  a  worship  that 
multitudes  deemed  necessary  to  their  salvation,  and  by 
all  her  organs,  and  with  all  her  energies,  persecuted 
those  who  clung  to  the  religion  of  their  fathers. 

"What  shall  we  say  of  a  religion  which  composed  at 

i*  "Lectures  on  Mediaeval  and  Mod.  Hist.,"  Stubbs. 
is  "History   of   Rationalism,"    Vol.    II. 


Introduction  xxi 

most  but  a  fourth  part  of  the  Christian  world,  and 
which  the  first  explosion  of  private  judgment  had  shiv- 
ered into  countless  sects,  which  was  nevertheless,  so 
pervaded  by  the  spirit  of  dogmatism  that  each  of  these 
sects  asserted  its  distinctive  doctrines  with  the  same 
confidence,  and  persecuted  with  the  same  unhesitating 
virulence  as  a  church  which  was  venerable  with  the 
homage  of  more  than  twelve  centuries? 

"What  shall  we  say  of  men  who,  in  the  name  of  re- 
ligious liberty,  deluged  the  land  with  blood,  trampled 
upon  the  very  principles  of  patriotism,  calling  in 
strangers  to  their  assistance  and  openly  rejoicing  in  the 
disasters  of  their  country  and  who,  when  they  at  last 
obtained  their  object,  immediately  established  a  religious 
tyranny  as  absolute  as  that  which  they  had  subverted? 
These  were  the  attitudes  which  for  more  than  a  century 
protestantism  uniformly  presented ;  and  so  strong  and  so 
general  was  its  intolerance  that  for  some  time  it  may 
be  said  that  there  were  more  instances  of  partial  tolera- 
tion being  advocated  by  Roman  Catholics  than  by  prot- 
estants." 

Speaking  of  the  succession  of  Mary,  historian  Beesly 
says :  1G  "Apart  from  the  hot-headed  protestant  minority 
chiefly  to  be  found  in  London,  the  mass  of  the  nation 
was  conservative,  and  welcomed  the  re-establishment  of 
the  old  religion  as  a  return  to  order  and  common  sense 
after  a  short  and  bitter  experience  of  revolutionary 
anarchy.  There  was  a  rooted  objection  to  restoring  the 
old  meddlesome  tyranny  of  the  bishops,  and  the  nobles 
and  squires  who  had  got  hold  of  the  abbey  lands  would 

16  "Queen    Elizabeth,"    E.    S.    Beesly,    p.    7. 


xxii  Introduction 

not  hear  of  giving  them  up.  But  the  return  to  com- 
munion with  the  Catholic  Church  and  the  recognition 
of  the  Pope  as  its  head  gave  satisfaction  to  three- 
fourths,  perhaps  to  five-sixths  of  the  nation,  and  to  a 
still  larger  proportion  of  its  most  influential  class,  the 
great  landed  proprietors. 

"Mary's  accession  was  the  great  and  unique  oppor- 
tunity for  the  old  church.  If  Mary  and  Pole  had  been 
cool-headed  politicians  instead  of  excited  fanatics,  if  they 
had  contented  themselves  with  restoring  the  old  wor- 
ship, depriving  the  few  protestant  clergy  of  their  ben- 
efices, and  punishing  only  outrageous  attacks  on  the 
State  religion,  Elizabeth  would  not  have  had  the  power, 
it  may  be  doubted  whether  she  would  have  had  the  in- 
clination to  undo  her  sister's  work." 

Continuing  in  another  place  this  author  says :  17  "What 
protestants  called  a  return  to  the  Bible  and  the  doc- 
trines of  primitive  Christianity,  the  deliverance  from  'the 
Bishop  of  Rome  and  his  detestable  enormities,'  were 
not  followed  by  any  general  improvement  of  morals  in 
protestant  countries.  He  that  was  unjust  was  unjust 
still;  he  that  was  filthy  was  filthy  still.  The  repulsive 
contrast  too  often  seen  between  sanctimonious  profes- 
sions and  unscrupulous  conduct  contributed  to  the  dis- 
enchantment." 

These  excerpts,  from  non-partisan  protestant  writers, 
are  effective  in  establishing  the  fact  that  the  religious 
aspect  of  the  "reformation"  so  assiduously  claimed  as 
the  first  great  principle  of  the  struggle  was,  in  fact,  but 
secondary  to  that  of  acquiring  through  the  Church's 

IT  Ibid.,    p.    134. 


Introduction  xxiii 

spoliation,  ultimate  material  gain.  That  new  religion, 
of  the  "reformers,"  that  failed  to  require  the  restitution 
of  the  abbey  lands,  the  great  cathedrals,  and  other  prop- 
erty, to  their  rightful  owners,  would  be  but  feeble  com- 
fort and  support  in  that  eventful  hour  when  the  mask 
of  "sanctimonious  professions"  will  fail  to  hide  from 
the  clear  searching  gaze  of  the  Judge  of  equity,  its 
pretended  owner's  duplicity. 

Of  the  number  who,  in  the  mistake  of  "The  Great 
Reformation,"  may  have  thought  it  God's  work  that  was 
being  done  in  this  seeking  of  new  paths,  their  descend- 
ants of  the  present  age,  if  equally  honest,  cannot  fail  to 
see  that  what  makes  most  for  stability  in  faith,  and  the 
moral  uplift  of  the  world,  is  still,  as  of  old,  the  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  Catholicism.  Protestantism  com- 
ing into  existence  too  late  to  claim  a  participation  in 
the  divine  commission  given  the  apostles,  is,  in  conse- 
quence, without  the  authority  to  compel  the  submission 
of  its  adherents  to  definite  moral  teaching. 

What  authority  then  can  be  invoked  to  stay  the  rising 
tide  that  threatens;  that  unceasing  ebb  and  flow,  that 
with  its  flotsam  of  easy  divorce  and  racial  limitation,  is 
undermining  the  foundations  of  society  and  threatening 
the  life  of  the  nations?  The  answer  must  be  sought  in 
the  Catholic  Church  whose  teaching,  regarding  faith  and 
morals,  is  at  once  authoritative,  and  of  infallible  truth. 

Between  the  doctrine  taught,  before  and  after  the  so- 
called  "Great  Reformation,"  there  is  not  the  slightest 
difference.  True  doctrine  before  the  "reformation,"  true 
doctrine  ever  since,  so  it  will  remain  till  God's  promise 
that  "the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail"  against  His 


xxiv  Introduction 

Church,  shall  perish   from  the  earth  in  the  wreck  and 
ruin  of  all  his  works. 

ENGLAND    AFTER    "THE    GREAT    REFORMATION." 

Regarding  the  moral  condition  of  England  after  the 
new  religion  had,  for  about  two  hundred  years,  been 
the  established  faith,  the  historian  Lorimer  says : 
18  "Literature  was  to  an  unparalleled  degree  coarse, 
debasing,  licentious,  as  the  pages  of  Smollet,  Defoe, 
Fielding  and  Coventry  illustrate.  The  real  sanctity  of 
the  marriage  tie  had  seriously  declined  among  the  more 
exclusive  classes  of  the  realm.  Drunkenness,  profanity, 
gambling,  and  profligacy  reigned  throughout  the  land. 
What  shall  be  said  of  the  moral  tone  of  a  community, 
where  one  hundred  and  sixty  crimes  were  punishable 
with  death,  and  where  capital  punishment  was  inflicted, 
as  plays  are  presented  at  theaters,  publicly  and  for 
money."  19  "But  a  yet  deeper  impression  may  be  gained 
of  the  extent  of  this  falling  away,  from  the  prevailing 
corruption  and  black  infamy  of  the  social  life,  which 
disgraced  a  country  where  the  cross  of  Christ  had  been 
the  symbol  of  its  faith  for  centuries." 

The  protestant  writer  Traill,  says :  20  "The  subject  of 
religion  mentioned  in  society,  excited  nothing  but 
laughter."  Mr.  Lecky  also  in  confirmation  of  the  above 
authorities  says :  21  "After  the  Reformation,  there  seems 


18  "Christianity    in     Nineteenth    Cent,"     pp.     16-17.       George    C. 
Lorimer. 

19  Ibid.,  p.   14. 

20  "Social  Eng.,"   p.   129. 

21  "Eng.    in   Eighteenth    Cent.,"    p.    579, 


Introduction  xxv 

to  have  been  a  falling  off  in  almost  all  branches  of 
intellectual  and  moral  life.  The  preachers  complained 
bitterly  of  the  decay  of  morality."  The  protestant  writer, 
Bayne,  gives  like  testimony  in  the  following  words: 
22  "The  movement  instituted  by  Luther,  tended  to  per- 
manently diminish  the  intensity  with  which  religion  had 
dominated  mediaeval  life." 

The  Anglican  bishop,  Burnet,  says :  23  "The  much 
greater  part  of  those  who  come  to  be  ordained  are 
ignorant,  to  a  degree  not  to  be  apprehended  by  those 
who  are  not  obliged  to  know  it.  The  easiest  part  of 
knowledge  is  that  to  which  they  are  the  greatest 
strangers.  Those  who  have  read  some  few  books  yet 
never  seem  to  have  read  the  Scriptures." 

Those  who  strive  for  success  along  a  chosen  line  of 
effort,  are  often,  through  excess  of  hope  and  zeal,  slow 
to  recognize  the  failure  of  the  work,  even  after  it  has 
become  conspicuously  apparent  to  those  outside  the  circle 
of  endeavor.  The  "reformers,"  fully  occupied  in  the 
broad  field  of  discussion  incident  to  the  changing  of  a 
world's  religion  were,  naturally,  lacking  opportunity  in 
which  to  observe  what  effect  the  new  teaching  was 
likely  to  have  upon  the  morals  of  the  people.  When 
the  innovators,  at  last,  had  the  knowledge  forced  upon 
them  that  all  was  not  well  in  the  new  zion,  "the 
preachers  complained  bitterly  of  the  decay  of  morality" 
among  those  who  had  been  "reformed"  but  were  now 
also  beyond  redemption. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  why,  after  the   "ref- 


22  "Life  of  Luther,"   p.   29. 

1:3  "State  of  Anglican  Ch.   in  Eighteenth   Cent." 


xxvi  Introduction 

ormation,"  the  moral  condition  of  the  people  should 
have  been  decadent.  It  is  far  easier  to  let  down  the 
strings  of  a  musical  instrument  than  to  bring  them 
back  to  permanent  concert  pitch.  The  "reformation" 
was  a  letting  down  of  the  moral  tension  from  the  high 
standards  and  ideals  of  past  centuries.  It  was,  as  these 
quotations  show,  of  the  world  worldly. 

The  followers  of  the  new  religion  having  been  eman- 
cipated from  the  yoke  of  obedience  to  "those  who  had 
the  rule  over  them,"  and  by  their  new  teachers  dispensed 
from  the  humiliating  and  troublesome  obligations  of 
fasting  and  other  penances,  naturally  used  their  new 
liberty  to  its  fullest  extent,  and,  being  in  accord  with 
the  Antinomian  suggestions  of  the  founder  of  protest- 
antism, entered  into  the  pleasures  of  the  world  with 
such  zest  and  abandon,  as  to  call  forth  the  above  com- 
plaints of  their  preachers. 

THE     NEGLECT    OF    CHURCH     ATTENDANCE. 

At  the  time  of  "The  Great  Reformation"  the  ancient 
zeal  and  enthusiasm — as  before  mentioned — had,  to  an 
appreciable  extent,  abated.  Historian  Traill  says  :  24  "In 
England  as  on  the  Continent,  Christianity  had  slowly 
become  debased,  not  so  much  by  a  perversion  of  true 
doctrines  into  false,  as  by  the  general  decay  of  zeal  and 
interest."  This  protestant  writer  makes  no  charge  of 
doctrines  changed.  The  fault  was  not  with  the  faith,  but 
with  those  who,  through  neglect,  failed  to  live  up  to  the 
faith.  The  reformation  needed  was  not  the  reformation 

24  "Social  England,"    p.    35. 


Introduction  xxvii 

of  the  doctrines  which  God  had  revealed,  but  the  ref- 
ormation of  the  people — the  shaking  up  of  dry  bones. 

Have  our  adversaries  ever  mourned  over  an  enervated 
zion? 

In  the  published  account  of  the  Commencement  exer- 
cises of  Yale  Divinity  School,  Dr.  George  H.  Harris, 
President  of  Amherst  College,  "dwelt  first  on  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  fact,  that  the  number  of  Church  goers 
has  fallen  off  in  recent  years.  This  he  ascribed  to  a 
change  in  the  popular  conception  of  religion.  In 
former  times  the  Church  was  looked  upon  as  the  indis- 
pensable means  of  salvation.  There  has  been  an  imper- 
ceptible but  sure  change  of  sentiment." 

The  cause  of  diminishing  church  attendance  must  be 
regarded  as  the  natural  outcome  of  an  eclipse  of  faith. 
Do  our  friends  know  whether  they  were  right  in  "former 
times,"  or  at  the  present  day?  As  the  Rev.  President, 
in  his  succeeding  remarks,  finds  no  fault  with  the  pre- 
vailing sentiment,  that  is,  that  "the  protestant  churches 
are  not  indispensable,"  it  is  fair  to  presume  that  to  be 
his  opinion,  and  with  that  opinion  we  heartily  concur. 

"We  find  in  religious  papers,"  says  the  New  York 
Sun,  "much  discussion  of  the  cause  of  diminishing 
church  attendance.  .  .  .  Apparently  the  Roman  Cath- 
olics are  not  suffering  from  it.  ...  The  lamentation 
comes  from  the  Baptists,  Methodists,  Presbyterians  and 
kindred  religious  bodies.  The  Christian  Intelligencer, 
representing  the  old  Dutch  Reformed  Church,  once  so 
powerful  in  New  York,  tells  of  the  results  of  inquiries 
sent  out  in  this  city,  as  to  the  reasons  for  this  neglect 
of  the  church. 


xxviii  Introduction 

The  responses  in  the  first  place,  found  fault  with  "the 
preaching,  'the.  inconsistencies  if  not  hypocrisies  of  the 
church  members  and  the  unprofitableness  or  exclusive- 
ness  of  the  church  and  its  services.'  .  .  .  Declin- 
ing church  attendance,  is  a  consequence  of  diminishing 
faith.  ...  A  large  part  of  the  Christian  pulpit  is 
teaching  the  people  that  the  Scriptures  on  which  alone 
they  based  their  belief  are  of  dubious  validity,  or  it  is 
tacitly  consenting  to  the  work  of  destruction.  Instead 
of  believing,  therefore,  people  are  criticising." 

The  Springfield  (Massachusetts)  Republican,  in  report- 
ing a  sermon  by  the  Pastor  of  Hope  Church — Rev.  S. 
H.  Woodrow,  says:  "Still  another  cause"  for  indiffer- 
entism  "has  been  the  discussion  over  the  Bible.  There 
is  no  need  to  question  the  honesty  and  sincerity  of 
those  who  carry  on  these  discussions,  but  the  fact 
remains  that  in  the  public  mind  the  thought  is  that  the 
Bible  is  being  attacked,  and  with  good  promise  of  being 
overthrown.  The  impression  has  gone  out  that  it  is  not 
the  word  of  God;  and  that  to  all  appearances  it  con- 
tains a  very  much  mixed  and  jumbled  word  of  man. 
.  .  .  One  other  cause  is  worthy  of  note.  In  the 
rejection  of  certain  crude  forms  of  future  punishment 
that  had  been  long  in  vogue,  the  church  has  swung  to 
the  opposite  extreme,  and  we  hear  very  little  about 
punishment  in  any  form." 

Was  the  Congregational  Church  in  New  England 
right  when  it  held  firmly  to  the  belief  that  the  Bible 
was  the  inspired  word  of  God,  or  is  it  right  now  when 
so  many  of  its  teachers,  after  more  than  a  century's 
study  of  its  pages,  are  divided  in  their  opinions  con- 


Introduction  xxix 

earning  it?  Was  the  same  church  right  when  it  believed 
in  the  endless  punishment  of  the  wicked  in  hell,  or  is 
it  right  now  when  it  does  not?  Can  the  searcher  after 
truth,  have  confidence  in  the  teaching  of  a  church,  that 
swings  from  one  extreme  to  another? 

Pastor  Woodrow  continuing  says:  "This  feeling  that 
it  does  not  much  matter  how  we  live  or  what  we  do, 
all  will  come  right  in  the  end,  has  sapped  the  moral 
fiber  of  the  church."  The  Congregational  divine  here 
laments  the  results  of  his  own  teaching.  When  the 
shepherd  teaches  his  flock  that  "crude  forms  of  future 
punishment" — which  the  Bible,  in  details  terrifying,  so 
clearly  sets  forth — have  been  rejected  by  modern  science 
and  twentieth  century  methods ;  then  with  the  elimina- 
tion of  all  fear  from  the  mind;  will  come,  as  a  natural 
sequence,  the  "feeling"  which  the  Rev.  brother  laments. 

Since  the  authority  for  the  existence  of  heaven  and 
its  opposite,  hell,  is  one  and  the  same,  rather  than  ignore 
the  existence  of  the  latter,  the  better  practice  might  be 
to  keep  it  constantly  in  mind,  that  meditation  on  its 
terrors  might,  as  with  whip  of  cords,  urge  us  far  from 
those  dire  portals,  even  to  the  gates  of  that  fair  city  on 
the  heights  which  is  its  antipode, — the  home  of  God. 

At  a  missionary  meeting  in  London  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  present  century,  25  "The  Rev.  W.  D.  Wal- 
ters, a  Methodist  divine,  said  that  it  was  only  in  com- 
paratively recent  years  that  they  had  realized  the  fact 
that  England  was  heathen!  Of  the  six  and  a  half 
millions  of  London  only  about  a  million  and  a  half 
attend  any  place  of  worship.  Thousands  of  people  have 

25  Public  Press. 


xxx  Introduction 

never  seen  a  Bible,  and  have  never  heard  the  name  of 
Christ  except  in  blasphemy!" 

Says  Cardinal  Manning:  "The  violation  of  the  im- 
munities of  the  patrimony  of  the  Church  led  at  once  to 
the  sacrilege  and  spoliation  of  the  sixteenth  century. 
And  this  robbery  of  the  inheritance  of  the  poor  has  pro- 
duced by  a  direct  cause  the  spiritual  destitution  of  Eng- 
land. Nearly  one-half  of  its  people,  we  are  told,  to  use 
the  language  of  its  own  statistical  books,  enter  no  place 
of  worship." 

These  few  excerpts  anent  Neglect  of  Church  At- 
tendance, seem  to  indicate  a  general  falling:  away  from 
the  old  time  faith  and  strictness.  Faith  in  the  Bible, 
and  its  doctrines,  appears  to  be  passing  away,  with  the 
advent  of  new  century  methods,  beautiful  music,  and 
eloquent  preaching. 

THE   RENAISSANCE. 

Modern  historians  are  agreed  in  admitting  that  the 
two  great  revolutionary  movements  of  the  15th  and 
16th  centuries  were  the  Reformation  and  the  Renais- 
sance. Under  the  former  are  included  the  violent  meas- 
ures employed  by  the  enemies  of  the  Church  to  over- 
throw authority,  that  was  coeval  with  Christianity,  and 
replace  it  with  the  despotism  of  civil  rulers  and  the 
fallible  tribunal  of  private  judgment.  The  Renaissance 
— a  movement  far  less  capable  of  exact  definition — im- 
plied the  development  of  many  phases  of  civilized  life, 
though  not  always  in  the  right  direction.  It  included 
an  exaggerated  worship  of  and  fascination  for  pagan 


Introduction  xxxi 

literature;  an  enthusiastic  cultivation  of  the  fine  arts 
almost  exclusively  intent  on  the  revival  and  glorification 
of  the  glories  of  paganism.  The  Catholic  Church  in 
her  broad  sympathies  made  friends  with  the  Renais- 
sance of  letters  and  of  classic  art,  condescending,  as 
far  as  her  principles  allowed  it,  to  the  new  craving  for 
earthly  things,  only  drawing  a  prohibitive  line  where 
the  love  of  nature  threatened  to  degenerate  into  sen- 
sualism; liberty  into  license,  and  love  of  independence 
into  hatred  of  authority.  As  judicial,  impartial  writers 
have  remarked,  it  is  precisely  on  this  prohibitive  line 
alone  that  the  later  Renaissance  and  the  so-called  Great 
Reformation  met  and  kissed  each  other.  The  result 
was  anarchy  and  schism  in  Germany,  schism  and  royal 
despotism  in  England,  not  to  speak  of  other  countries 
more  or  less  affected  by  the  new  learning  and  the  new 
gospel,  the  inevitable  consequence  being  everywhere  a 
low  standard  of  both  the  principles  and  the  practice  of 
Christian  morality.  These  preliminary  remarks  are  in- 
tended as  a  justification  of  my  treatment  of  the  Renais- 
sance in  connection  with  my  subject — The  Great  Refor- 
mation a  Great  Mistake. 

See  "Reformation  and  Renaissance,"  by  J.  M.  Stone, 
London,  Duckworth  &  Co.,  1904.  A  very  able  work  on 
this  subject. 

In  the  century  preceding  the  so-called  "Great  Refor- 
mation" it  had  become  the  custom  with  many  literary 
men  to  employ  their  time  largely  in  the  study  of  the 
pagan  writers  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome.  This  re- 
turn to  antiquity  was  singularly  styled  the  New  Learn- 
ing, more  appropriately  the  Renaissance,  signifying  in 


xxxii  Introduction 

part  a  resurrection.  As  applied  to  Architecture  it  may 
be  called  the  revival  of  the  Greek  form  of  decoration 
applied  to  the  prevailing  style  of  the  Gothic  or  Pointed. 
Some  of  the  early  efforts  made  in  the  attempt  to  har- 
monize and  blend  the  two  styles,  cannot  be  considered 
as  altogether  happy  in  their  results ;  as  conspicuously 
evidenced  in  the  facade  of  the  renowned  Cathedral  of 
Milan,  where  pointed  windows  seem  engaged  in  an 
ineffectual  strife  with  the  round  arches  and  heavy  win- 
dow and  door  caps  of  classical  architecture. 

Says  Ruskin,  "renaissance  architecture  is  the  school 
which  has   conducted  men's   inventive   faculties 
from  the  marble  shaft  and  the  lancet  arch,  the  wreathed 
leafage  and  the  glowing  and  melting  harmony  of  gold 
and  azure,  to  the  square  cavity  in  the  brick  wall." 

As  architecture  and  sculpture  were,  by  the  Renais- 
sance, held  in  bondage  to  the  sensuousness  of  classic 
paganism,  the  art  of  painting  from  the  culmination  of 
medieval  art  in  the  Last  Judgment  of  Michael  Angelo — • 
whose  inspiration  was  derived  more  from  the  greatness 
of  his  Christian  faith  than  the  study  of  pagan  art — 
under  the  influence  of  the  Renaissance,  gradually  de- 
clined. 

More  specifically  in  the  revival  of  letters  has  the 
Renaissance  received  its  most  extravagant  praise,  not 
only  from  catholic,  but  more  notably  from  protestant, 
writers,  in  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the  New  Learn- 
ing at  its  inception  had  become  an  active  assistant  in 
making  possible  the  protestant  reformation. 

The  New  Learning,  or  Humanism — which  was  the 
name  given  to  the  Renaissance  as  identified  with  the 


Introduction  xxxiii 

revival  of  classic  learning — had  its  genesis  in  Italy  in 
the  fourteenth  century,  and  from  there  slowly  extended 
itself  over  western  Europe.  Paganism  seems  never  to 
have  been  so  entirely  eradicated  in  Italy,  as  in  most 
countries  which  had  been  won  from  barbarism.  The 
presence  in  the  Eternal  City  of  so  large  a  number 
of  majestic  ruins  and  monuments,  and  other  matchless 
evidences  of  the  height  to  which  civilization  had  at- 
tained during  the  Empire,  together  with  the  legends 
which  were  associated  with  them,  had  a  marked  ten- 
dency in  keeping  alive  the  old  superstitions,  and  mem- 
ories, connected  with  the  pagan  past. 

"The  learning  of  the  Middle  Ages,  as  exemplified  in 
art,  is,"  says  Mr.  Ruskin,  "but  the  expression  of  the 
joy  of  those  who  have  found  the  young  Child  with 
Mary  his  mother."  The  literature,  and  the  teachings, 
of  the  ages  of  faith  were  never  separated  from  faith; 
yet  where  they  were  so  constantly  centered  upon  the 
Latin  authors  as  to  become  unmindful  of  the  fact  that, 
with  the  world's  growth  and  expansion,  new  influences 
and  conditions  would  arise;  small  wonder  if  they  failed 
to  equal  in  worldly  wisdom,  the  wisdom  of  the  world. 
So,  where  a  larger  education  should  have  led  the  way, 
scholasticism  with  its  well-nigh  endless  refinements  of 
thought,  and  dialectical  subtleties,  used  in  fruitless  dis- 
putations upon  traditions  and  narratives  of  doubtful 
value,  so  occupied  the  minds  of  the  schoolmen  as  to 
make  them  seemingly  content  to  follow  at  a  distance, 
rather  than  press  forward  in  the  van. 

A  revival  of  learning  was  indeed  the  world's  great 
need,  next  to  that  of  right  living,  but  a  revival  of  learn- 


xxxiv  Introduction 

ing  by  which  enlightenment  was  sought  from  the  writ- 
ings of  pagan  authors,  was  a  resort  to  a  fountainhead 
which  was  at  least  questionable,  and  the  results,  how- 
ever desirable  they  may  have  been,  seem  on  the  whole 
not  to  have  proved  an  unmixed  blessing. 

Erasmus  of  Rotterdam,  the  friend  of  Luther,  and  the 
reformers,  an  ecclesiastic  of  great  learning,  was  a 
Humanist,  though  of  a  greatly  improved  type  from 
those  who  brought  disgrace  upon  the  Church  in  Italy. 
Erasmus  was  first  a  scholar,  critic,  and  satirist,  and 
secondly,  a  catholic  who  showed  at  times  a  proclivity 
for  joining  in  the  chase  with  the  hounds,  and  again, 
giving  aid  and  comfort  to  the  hares:  thus  he  was  the 
friend  of  Luther  and  Melanchthon,  Sir  Thomas  More 
and  Bishop  Fisher!  Claimed  as  a  reformer  by  the 
reformers — which  he  was  not — the  revolt  of  Luther 
may,  in  some  degree,  be  attributable  to  the  keen  wit 
and  merciless  satire  with  which  he  dissected  character, 
and  belabored  the  weaknesses  and  shortcomings  in 
learning,  of  all  from  the  Pontiff  to  the  humblest  eccle- 
siastic especially  the  different  monastic  orders. 

Luther  was  but  an  humble  imitator  of  the  more  pol- 
ished and  brilliant  Erasmus  in  his  wholesale  abuse  of 
the  monks.  Luther,  from  a  railer  of  men,  became  a 
railer  of  doctrines.  Erasmus  never  denied  catholic  doc- 
trine, he  was  only  the  friend  of  those  who  did;  his  spe- 
cial province  was  to  find  fault  with  whatever  existed — 
which  is  the  easy  part — but  in  finding  a  remedy  for 
existing  evils — which  is  the  difficult  part — he  had  no 
skill. 

While  the  protestant  revolt  was  greatly  aided  by  the 


Introduction  xxxv 

sympathy  manifested  for  it  in  the  carpings  of  the  Hu- 
manists, the  condition  of  public  morals,  which  then  ex- 
isted, was  more  than  any  other  cause  attributable  to  the 
Humanists  themselves  who,  having  drank  long  and  deep 
from  the  poisoned  wells  of  an  immoral  and  pagan  liter- 
ature, had,  at  least  the  more  radical  among  them,  be- 
come largely  dominated  by  its  spirit.  So  if  at  first 
they  had  been  captivated  by  the  spell  of  poetic  imagery, 
and  language  eloquent,  by  which  the  alluring  pleasures 
of  a  worldly  and  not  over  innocent  life  were  portrayed 
with  consummate  art,  the  enticing  details  of  which 
through  being  partially  concealed  were  the  more  plainly 
revealed,  we  shall  see  in  the  sequel,  that  the  worship 
of  those  beautifully  wreathed  flowers  of  Grecian  rhet- 
oric, was  superseded  by  the  worship  of  that  which  had 
been  so  eloquently  described. 

Thus  the  radical  Italian  Humanists  have  justly  won 
the  title  of  being  considered 26  "the  corruptors  of 
youth."  The  vices  that  made  Greece  infamous  were 
transplanted  to  Italian  soil,  and  in  the  bud  and  blossom 
of  them  raged  a  curse  and  plague  in  the  cities  of  the 
land.  27  "It  may  safely  be  asserted  then,"  says  Mr. 
Lilly,  "that  speaking  generally,  Italian  Humanism  was 
practically  a  rejection  of  the  claim  made  by  Christianity 
to  supply  the  true  standard  and  rule  of  human  action. 
It  was  on  the  whole  a  movement  away  from  Christian 
morality.  It  was  a  return,  Rio  has  well  observed,  not 
so  much  to  Classicalism  as  to  paganism." 

Thus    it    was    not    through    ignorance    so    much,    as 


26  "Revival  of  Learning,"   Symonds,   p.   407. 

27  "The   Claims   of   Christianity,"    W.    S.    Lilly,    p.    161. 


xxxvi  Introduction 

through  learning,  that  a  decadence  in  the  spiritual  life 
of  large  numbers  in  the  Church  is  to  be  attributed. 
Any  preference  for  the  Christian  religion  over  ancient 
philosophy  was  charitably  attributed  by  the  Humanists 
to  ignorance,  and  the  rise  and  progress  of  Christianity, 
as  an  interregnum  of  barbarism.  We  also  hear  much 
about  the  greatness  of  man's  intellect,  the  freedom  of 
his  will,  his  emancipation  from  the  thraldom  of  old  be- 
liefs and  galling  superstitions;  all  of  which  are  notice- 
able as  having  entered  into  the  tonal  structure  of  the 
dominant  chord  of  the  "reformation"  under  Luther. 

The  Renaissance  was  a  revolt  against  the  spiritual 
in  religion,  literature  and  art,  and  the  substitution  in  its 
place  of  the  sensuous  and  luxurious  delights  of  a  civil- 
ization which  had  long  since  died  of  its  own  effeminacy. 
The  effect  upon  the  Church  of  the  revival  of  pagan 
learning  was,  in  the  main,  to  lower  the  moral  standard 
and  make  fashionable  corrupt  living,  by  a  rehabilitation 
and  worship  of  the  flesh.  It  was  an  infatuation  for  a 
vain  learning,  a  false  philosophy,  which  tending  to 
engender  conceit  and  pride,  led  to  an  abandonment  of 
faith  and  virtue  with  a  return,  brief  though  it  was,  to 
the  old  paganism  of  the  Empire. 

The  same  doctrines  which  had  gladdened  the  ears 
and  hearts  of  the  first  Christians,  and  are  welcomed  by 
us  to-day,  were  the  same  that  in  the  epoch  of  the 
Renaissance  fell  on  unwilling  ears  and  divided  hearts. 
The  Church,  rich  at  this  time  in  the  lives  of  her  saints, 
failed  not  by  their  words  and  the  convocation  of  her 
bishops  to  sound  notes  of  warning  and  remonstrance, 
but  to  ears  that  were  made  dull  and  eyes  that  had  be- 


Introduction  xxxvii 

come  dazzled  by  the  splendor  of  the  world,  her  bell, 
book,  and  candle,  seemed  enveloped  in  a  haze  that 
neither  sound  nor  light  could  penetrate,  and  failed  to 
awaken  to  spiritual  life,  and  obedience,  the  sleeping 
sinner  from  blissful  dreams  of  pagan  eloquence  and 
word  painted  imagery. 

Another  cause,  for  the  people's  indifference,  may  be 
found  in  the  exile  of  the  Papacy  for  the  space  of 
seventy  years;  an  exile  commonly  known  by  name  as 
the  "Babylonian  Captivity,"  during  which  the  Chair  of 
Peter  was  removed  to  Avignon  in  France.  The  popes 
and  cardinals,  being  largely  natives  of  that  country, 
were,  supposedly,  more  or  less  under  the  influence  of 
French  politics,  and  the  Papacy,  in  consequence,  lost  to 
some  extent  its  catholic  character  becoming,  in  the 
opinion  of  other  rulers,  an  ally  of  the  king.  By  this 
unfortunate  occurrence  the  Papacy  lost  its  prestige,  and 
its  power  for  good  was  greatly  weakened  throughout 
the  world. 

The  necessity  for  a  reformation  was  no  original  dis- 
covery of  either  Huss  or  Luther,  but  had  long  been 
recognized  by  the  ablest  and  best  among  the  holy  men 
and  women  of  the  Church.  To  arouse  her  lukewarm 
children  to  a  knowledge  and  appreciation  of  their  mani- 
fold delinquences,  to  warn  them  of  the  danger  to  which 
they  had  exposed  themselves  by  so  intemperate  a  devo- 
tion to  the  New  Learning,  earnest  effort  had  been 
made.  But  the  devil,  hard  to  dislodge  even  from  Para- 
dise, in  company  with  Caesar,  the  flesh,  and  the  Hu- 
manists, was  enabled  for  a  time  to  retain  the  citadel. 

In   this    dark   period   of   Christian   history    there    re- 


xxxviii  Introduction 

mained  a  large  majority  who  continued  faithful.  Among 
them  St.  Catherine  of  Siena,  who  manifested  no  fear 
in  reproving  popes  when  the  good  of  the  Church  re- 
quired it.  The  Venerable  Thomas  a  Kempis,  born  a 
century  earlier  than  Luther  and  like  him  an  Augus- 
tinian  monk,  but  unlike  him  fond  of  the  ways  of  peace 
and  holy  contemplation,  was  a  typical  son  of  the  Church 
whose  devotional  writings  are  valued  even  by  our  ad- 
versaries. 

The  young  Spanish  page  at  the  court  of  Ferdinand 
did,  in  later  years,  a  far  greater  work  for  the  Church 
than  his  kingly  master  when  he  drove  the  Saracen  from 
Spain;  and  the  life  and  immortal  works  of  Ignatius 
Loyola  worked  prodigies  in  church  reformation. 

"THE  GREAT  REFORMATION"   IN   GERMANY. 

28  "In  the  year  1510,"  says  Doctor  Stevens,  "an  Au- 
gustinian  monk  walked  with  desolate  heart  the  streets 
of  Rome,  and  turning  away  from  the  pomp  of  her 
churches  and  the  corruptions  of  the  Vatican,  sought  re- 
lief to  his  awakened  soul  by  ascending  on  his  knees, 
with  peasants  and  beggars,  the  staircase  of  Pilate,  which 
was  supposed  to  have  been  trodden  by  Christ  on  his 
trial.  While  pausing  on  the  successive  steps  to  weep 
and  pray,  a  voice  from  Heaven  seemed  to  say:  The 
just  shall  live  by  faith.  It  was  the  voice  of  Apostolic 
Christianity,  and  the. announcement  of  the  Reformation! 
He  fled  from  the  superstitious  scene.  Seven  years 
later,  the  same  monk  nailed  on  the  gate  of  the  Church 

28  "Hist,  of  Methodism,"  Abel  Stevens,  p.  19. 


Introduction  xxxix 

at  Wittenberg  the  theses  which  introduced  the  Reforma- 
tion." 

Luther,29  whom  the  terrors  of  a  thunder  storm  fright- 
ened into  becoming  a  monk,  was  a  man  of  strong  con- 
victions and  marked  individuality,  of  many  and  varied 
attainments  in  general  learning,  being  as  well  a  musician 
and  hymn  writer  of  some  skill.  He  was  of  a  particu- 
larly rugged,  combative  and  aggressive  nature,  imperi- 
ous and  self-willed;  an  effective  sledge-hammer,  but  a 
poor  anvil.  "Luther  had,"  as  Doctor  Lindsay  says,  "the 
gift  of  strong  smiting  phrases ;  and  no  other  epoch- 
making  man  has  ever  flung  about  wild  words  in  such 
reckless  profusion."  The  doughty  friar  who  spectacu- 
larly nailed  the  theses  to  the  Church  door,  in  something 
like  two  years'  time,  wrote  the  following  letter  to  the 
Pope: 

30  "Necessity  forces  me,  as  the  very  dregs  of  men  and 
the  dust  of  the  earth,  to  address  again  Thy  Holiness 
and  Majesty.  Deign  then  to  bend  thy  paternal  ears, 
which  are  truly  those  of  the  Vicar  of  Christ,  to  this 
Thy  little  lamb,  and  attend  to  my  bleating.  .  .  . 
What  am  I  to  thee  Most  Blessed  Father?  I  know  not 
what  to  do.  Thy  wrath  I  cannot  endure;  and  yet  how 
to  be  delivered  from  it  I  know  not. 

"I  am  commanded  to  recall  the  discussion.  If  I  could 
accomplish  what  is  intended  by  this  demand,  it  would 
be  done  without  delay.  But  on  account  of  the  resist- 
ance of  my  adversaries,  my  writings  have  been  pub- 
lished to  a  much  greater  extent  than  I  had  intended. 

29  "Life  of  Luther,"   Jacobs,   p.   21. 
so  Ibid.,   p.   126. 


xl  Introduction 

They  have  entered  into  many  hearts  so  deeply  that  they 
cannot  be  recalled.  Nay,  our  Germany  to-day  flour- 
ishes so  remarkably  in  learning  and  sound  judgment, 
that  however  much  I  desire  to  honor  the  Roman 
Church,  they  cannot  be  recalled.  For  this  is  impossible 
without  bringing  still  greater  disgrace  upon  the  Roman 
Church. 

"They  whom  I  have  resisted  have  brought  infamy 
and  shame  among  us  in  Germany  upon  the-  Church  of 
Rome.  .  .  .  Before  God  and  all  creatures  I  attest 
that  I  have  never  wished,  nor  do  I  wish  to-day,  to  plot 
against  Thy  power;  on  the  contrary  I  acknowledge  the 
power  of  the  Church  to  be  above  all  things ;  nor  is  any- 
thing to  be  preferred  to  it,  except  alone  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  the  Lord  of  all." 

Luther  was  not  sincere  in  this  abject  letter,  he  was 
only  prudent,  so  in  case  the  Elector  of  Saxony  could 
not  be  depended  upon  in  the  event  of  a  complete  break 
with  the  Pope,  a  safe  retreat  would  be  provided  for. 
The  boldness  of  this  "reformer"  was  likely  to  increase, 
or  decrease,  according  as  the  facilities  for  personal 
safety  did,  or  did  not,  present  themselves.  When  sub- 
sequently Luther's  personal  safety  became  assured,  he 
adopted  a  tone  toward  the  Hierarchy  that  would  have 
been  the  superlative  of  arrogance  in  the  greatest  of 
Popes. 

Upon  the  receipt  of  the  Papal  bull  of  excommunica- 
tion, Luther  stirs  up,  within  him,  his  favorite  "gift  of 
strong  smiting  phrases."  81  "Leo  X.,  and  you,  ye  car- 
dinals of  Rome,  I  address,  and  to  your  face  I  freely  say : 

si  "Life   of  Luther,"    Jacobs,    p.    172. 


Introduction  xli 

If  this  bull  has  gone  forth  in  your  name,  and  with 
your  knowledge  ...  I  will  use  my  authority,  by 
which,  in  baptism,  by  the  mercy  of  God,  I  became  a 
son  of  God,  and  co-heir  with  Christ,  and  was  placed 
upon  a  firm  rock,  which  dreads  neither  the  gates  of 
hell,  nor  heaven,  nor  earth,  I  exhort  you  in  the  Lord, 
to  repent,  and  to  make  an  end  to  these  diabolical  blas- 
phemies, and  that  too,  speedily.  Unless  this  be  done  I, 
with  all  who  worship  Christ,  will  regard  your  See 
possessed  of  Satan,  and  the  accursed  abode  of  Anti- 
christ. .  .  . 

"For  this  declaration  we  are  ready  ...  to  offer 
ourselves  for  death,  that  you  may  satisfy  your  bloody 
tyranny.  But  should  you  persevere  in  your  fury  after 
this  has  been  written,  we  condemn  you  and,  together 
with  the  bull  and  all  its  decreetals,  deliver  you  to  Satan, 
for  the  destruction  of  your  flesh,  that  your  spirit  may 
be  delivered  in  the  day  of  the  Lord.  In  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ,  our  Lord,  whom  your  persecute.  Amen." 

In  what  other  than  a  "Pickwickian  sense"  these  words 
"we  are  ready  to  offer  ourselves  for  death/'  etc.,  are 
to  be  taken,  it  is  not  easy  to  say,  but  as  a  declaration 
made  in  a  place  of  perfect  safety,  would  seem  useful 
only  as  a  bid  for  sympathy  and  applause.  Upon  the 
same  subject  Luther  elsewhere  says :  32  "Give  ear  now, 
you  bishops,  or  rather  you  visors  of  the  devil:  Dr. 
Luther  will  read  you  a  bull  and  a  reform,  which  will 
not  sound  sweet  in  your  ears.  Doctor  Luther's  Bull 
and  Reform  is  this,  whoever  spend  their  labor,  per- 
sons, and  fortunes,  to  lay  waste  your  episcopacies,  and 

32  Adversus  falso  Nomin,   Tom.   II,   Jen.   A.   D.   1525. 


xlii  Introduction 

to  extinguish  the  government  of  bishops,  they  are  the 
beloved  of  God,  true  Christians,  and  opposers  of  the 
devil's  ordinances.  On  the  other  hand,  whoever  sup- 
port the  government  of  bishops,  and  willingly  obey 
them  they  are  the  devil's  ministers." 

Notwithstanding  these  strongly  pronounced  opinions, 
Luther  in  1542 — in  order  to  please  the  Elector  of  Sax- 
ony, his  chief  patron  and  protector — is  found  ordain- 
ing his  friend  Amsdorf  as  Bishop  of  Naumburg! 

The  Renaissance  spirit  had  penetrated  the  University 
of  Erfurth  and  Luther  becomes  a  Humanist.  Mr.  Bayne 
says :  33  "A  man  of  mark  and  intellectual  aspiration, 
to  the  circle  of  young  Humanists  who  then,  in  the  first 
glad  flush  of  the  renaissance,  as  it  broke  from  below 
the  Alps  and  shot  its  morning  crimsons  towards  the 
north,  talked,  rhymed,  laughed  at  priests  and  monks, 
praised  Reuchlin,  adored  Erasmus,  polished  Latin  prose 
to  a  Ciceronian  luster,  aspired  to  write  verses  of  which 
Horace  and  Virgil  would  not  have  been  ashamed,  and 
on  the  whole  cultivated  and  affected  a  classic  elegance, 
freedom,  and  pride  of  existence  in  the  precincts  of 
Erfurth  University." 

Young  Martin  occupied  his  time  largely  in  the  study 
of  such  authors  as  in  an  ecclesiastical  sense  might  be 
styled  revolutionary,  especially  the  works  of  William  of 
Occam,  which  he  poured  over  34  "until  he  could  repeat 
from  memory  the  great  folios  of  that  author."  It  was 
Occam  who  taught  "that  it  cannot  be  proved  from  Holy 
Scripture  that  in  order  to  do  good  works,  the  Holy 

33  "Life  of  Luther,"   Bayne,   p.   132. 

34  "Life  of  Luthei-,"  Jacobs. 


Introduction  xliii 

Spirit  is  necessary."  It  was  in  Occam  that  Luther  was 
taught  that  "popes  were  fallible."  It  was  Occam  that 
Luther  called  "his  dear  master."  35  We  also  find  Mar- 
tin reading  by  stealth  the  writings  of  John  Huss,  and 
noticing  with  pleasure  that  far  from  containing  any- 
thing objectionable,  there  were  many  quotations  from 
Scripture  in  them. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  boy  is  the  father  of  the  man, 
can  we  not  look  upon  young  Martin,  who  began  thus 
early  to  manifest  admiration  for  the  writings  of  those 
who  sat  at  the  feet  of  the  sage  of  Rotterdam,  "in  full 
sympathy  with  his  exposure  of  the  errors  of  monks 
and  priests";  who  with  his  brother  Humanists,  railed, 
laughed  at,  and  commiserated  the  inmates  of  the  cloister 
for  their  ignorance  of  the  pagan  classics ; — as  the  father 
of  that  Doctor  Martin,  who  later  railed  at  catholic  doc- 
trine and  the  pope? 

Luther's  departure  from  the  world  of  student  life 
was  carefully  arranged  with  a  view  to  effect.  86  "He 
asked  a  few  of  his  most  intimate  friends  to  spend  an 
evening  with  him;  he  entertained  them  with  his  best 
talk,  his  best  music;  bade  adieu  to  them,  without  hint- 
ing that  anything  unusual  was  to  happen !  .  .  .  The 
friends  suspected  nothing.  Next  morning  they  learned 
that  he  had  entered  the  Augustinian  convent.  Those  of 
them  who  hurried  thither  he  declined  to  see.  Not  until 
a  month  had  passed  did  he  admit  audience  from  the 
outer  world."  37  "In  a  glow  of  complacent  hopefulness 


35  "Life  of  Luther,"  Bayne,  p.  160. 

36  "Life  of  Luther,"   Bayne,   p.   143. 

37  Ibid.,   p.   174. 


xliv  Introduction 

and  high-strung  resolution,  he  began  after  his  ordination 
to  make  of  himself  a  model  of  saintship.  To  use  his 
own  phrase,  'he  would  take  heaven  by  storm.'  "  It  is 
not  surprising  that  this  young  man,  who  was  somewhat 
inclined  to  boasting,  should  after  the  "glow  of  compla- 
cent hopefulness"  have  become  more  mild  and  his  ex- 
citement to  some  extent  abated — being  utterly  des- 
titute of  the  most  important  requirements  of  his  pro- 
fession, viz:  patience  and  humility — began  soon  to  fret 
and  complain.  38  "The  thunders  of  Sinai  rolled  over 
his  soul.  The  lightnings  of  Divine  wrath  smote  him 
as  with  pangs  of  everlasting  death.  He  was  hurried 
from  one  extreme  of  impassioned  feeling  to  another, 
as  Milton  pictures  the  transference  of  the  lost  from 
regions  of  searching  fire  to  regions  of  thick  ribbed  ice. 
At  one  moment  he  strained  all  his  faculties  to  a  par- 
oxysmal intensity  in  the  mortification  of  sin;  at  another 
he  fell  back  upon  the  mood  of  rebellious  defiance,  al- 
most disposed  to  hurl  blasphemous  upbraidings  at  an 
unrelenting  God." 

When  Luther  "fell  back  upon  the  mood  of  rebellious 
defiance,"  the  act  was  characteristic  of  the  man,  and 
the  mood  one  in  which  he  doubtless  felt  the  most  at 
home.  The  all-pervading  idea  of  Luther's  mind  was 
Luther.  While  yet  a  student  at  Erfurth,  with  his  cus- 
tomary modesty  young  Martin  39  "lamented  that,  during 
his  entire  career  there  he  had  never  heard  either  a 
Gospel  or  a  Psalm  properly  explained." 

An  exceedingly  adulatory  letter  addressed  in  1519  to 

38  "Life  of  Luther,"   Bayne,   p.    175. 

39  "Life  of  Luther,"  Jacobs,  p.   19. 


Introduction  xlv 

Erasmus,  as  it  were  by  accident,  gives  the  key  to 
Luther's  inspiration  and  ardor  in  his  warfare  against 
the  papacy.  In  this  letter  Luther  cries  out  in  rapture: 

40  "Who  is  there  that  has  not  admitted  Erasmus  to  the 
inmost  chambers  of  his  mind  ?    Whom  does  not  Erasmus 
teach?     In   whom   does   not   Erasmus    reign?     I   refer 
of  course  to  such  as  have  a  genuine  love  for  letters." 
Luther  in  conclusion  gives  voice  to  that  which  is  dearer 
to   his   heart   than   the   fame   of  the   polished   scholar: 

41  "My  name,  too,  has  begun  to  emerge  from  obscurity" 
While  the  founders  of  new  religions  may  succeed  in 

making  themselves  believe  that  their  labor  is  all  for 
God's  glory,  who  without  their  distinguished  services 
would  never  be  set  right  before  the  world;  yet  there 
will  be  those  who,  reading  between  the  lines  and  thus 
discovering  other  and  far  different  motives  for  their 
actions,  will  not  fail  to  draw  a  parallel  between  these 
and  the  more  ingenuous  statements  of  those  men  of 
old  who  said  prior  to  the  attempted  building  of  that 
tower  whose  top  should  pierce  the  vaulted  heavens : 
"Come  let  us  make  ourselves  famous,"  before  our  dust 
becomes  the  sport  and  plaything  of  the  summer  winds. 

THE  PEASANTS'  WAR,  1524. 

Whatever  political,  social,  or  economic  conditions 
antedated  the  insurrection  known  as  the  peasants'  war, 
the  more  immediate  cause  of  the  outbreak  can  be  traced 
to  Luther's  talent  as  an  agitator,  ably  assisted  as  he 

40  "Life   of   Luther,"   Bayne,   p.    458. 

41  Ibid.,   p.    459. 


xlvi  Introduction 

was  by  Ulrich  von  Hutton,  mentioned  by  the  protestant 
Professor  Lindsay  as  42  "the  stormy  petrel  of  the  epoch," 
and  Franz  von  Sickingin,  "the  last  flower  of  German 
chivalry,"  and  other  renowned  patrons  of  the  reformed 
faith  who,  by  their  unlimited  attainments  in  the  use  of 
vehement  and  incendiary  language,  were  enabled  to 
incite  the  ignorant  to  the  committal  of  acts  of  disorder 
and  crime. 

One  Thomas  Miinzer,  who  seems  to  have  also  been 
a  rather  stormy  petrel,  is  on  record  as  the  author  of 
the  following  mild  and  pious  language :  43  "Arise !  fight 
the  battle  of  the  Lord!  On!  On!  On!  The  wicked 
tremble  when  they  hear  of  you.  On!  On!  On!  Be 
pitiless!  although  Esau  gives  you  fair  words  (Gen. 
xxxiii.).  Heed  not  the  groans  of  the  godless;  they 
will  beg,  weep,  and  entreat  you  for  pity  like  children. 
Show  them  no  mercy,  as  God  commanded  Moses  (Deut. 
vii.),  and  as  He  has  revealed  the  same  to  us.  Rouse 
up  the  towns  and  the  villages:  above  all  rouse  the 
miners.  .  .  On!  On!  On!  while  the  fire  is  burning; 
let  not  the  blood  cool  on  your  swords!  Smite  pinke- 
pank  on  the  anvil  of  Nimrod!  Overturn  their  towers 
to  the  foundations;  while  one  of  them  lives  you  will 
not  be  freed  from  the  fear  of  man!  While  they  reign 
over  you  it  is  of  no  use  to  speak  of  the  fear  of  God! 
On  while  it  is  day!  God  is  with  you." 

The  art  of  printing  proved  an  invaluable  aid  to  the 
"reformation,"  which  was  largely  carried  on  by  the 
distribution  of  small  leaflets  printed  on  coarse  paper, 


42  "Life  of  Luther,"   Lindsay. 

43  "Life  of  Luther,"   Lindsay,   p.   184. 


Introduction  xlvii 

and  in  cases  where  language  failed  to  sufficiently  cari- 
cature the  Roman  Curia  and  the  monks,  or  give  the 
intensity  of  vituperative  expression  desired — illustrated 
with  rude  woodcuts.  These  small  sheets  were  the  only 
inexpensive  literature  obtainable,  and  were  eagerly  read 
by  those  possessed  of  the  requisite  scholarship,  and 
those  who  could  not  read  would  find  the  desired  in- 
struction from  the  cartoons,  or  by  listening,  as  the 
leaflets  were  read  and  discussed  in  ale  houses  and  tav- 
erns. These  proselyting  publications,  like  the  one  shown, 
that  the  cause  might  seem  the  more  pious,  were  sup- 
plied with  numerous  Scripture  quotations  explained  to 
suit  the  times. 

In  the  early  months  of  the  year  1525,  the  "Evangeli- 
cal Brotherhood"  were  everywhere  victorious,  and  the 
way  of  their  advancing  hosts  was  made  bright  by 
blazing  castles  and  monasteries,  to  be  succeeded  by 
blackened  ruins  and  desolate  hearths. 

Luther,  who  seems  to  have  been  greatly  surprised  at 
his  success  in  instigating  rebellion,  44  "wrote  a  vehe- 
ment tract,  'Against  the  Murderous  Thieving  Hordes  of 
Peasants.'  In  this  terrible  pamphlet  he  hounded  on 
the  princes  to  crush  the  rising."  The  protestant  Pro- 
fessor admits  that  "when  all  is  said  that  can  be  reason- 
ably said  in  explanation  of  his  conduct  at  this  time,  one 
cannot  but  feel  that  the  language  of  this  pamphlet  is 
an  ineffaceable  stain  on  Luther  which  no  extenuating 
circumstance  can  wipe  out.  ...  In  the  case  of  an 
insurgent,  says  Luther,  'every  man  is  both  judge  and 
executioner.  Therefore,  whoever  can,  should  knock 

44  "Life  of  Luther,"  Lindsay,  p.  186. 


xlviii  Introduction 

down,  strangle,  and  stab  such,  publicly  or  privately, 
and  think  nothing  so  venomous,  pernicious,  and  devilish 
as  an  insurgent.  .  .  .  Such  wonderful  times  are 
these  that  a  prince  can  merit  heaven  better  with  blood- 
shed than  another  with  prayer.'  " 

45  "I  Martin  Luther  have  shed  the  blood  of  the  re- 
bellious peasants,  for  I  commanded  them  to  be  killed. 
Their  blood  is  indeed  upon  my  head  but  I  put  it  on 
the  Lord  God,  by  whose  command  I  spoke." 

The  protestant  professor  makes  every  effort  possible 
to  show  that  Luther's  name  should  not  be  connected 
with  the  rising,  but  as  his  friends  and  other  reformers 
were  so  connected,  it  seems  fair  to  judge  Luther,  by 
the  company  which  he  kept.  The  demands  of  the  peas- 
ants as  summed  up  in  the  "Twelve  Articles" — the  pro- 
fessor admits,  were  approved  by  Luther,  and  further 
that  46  "it  must  be  acknowledged  that  there  was  an 
intimate  connection  between  that  disastrous  outburst 
and  Luther's  message  to  the  German  people."  A  hun- 
dred thousand  lives  is  supposably  the  cost  of  listening 
to  the  "smiting  phrases"  of  the  reformers. 

The  apologists  for  the  "Great  Reformation"  have  un- 
weariedly  set  forth  that  movement  on  the  pages  of 
their  histories,  as  the  chief  among  the  many  blessings 
which  God,  in  the  superabundance  of  his  mercy,  has 
bestowed  upon  us  since  that  memorable  day  when  the 
gates  of  paradise  in  closing,  left  without  its  boundaries, 
fallen  man.  If  we  will  hear  them,  the  "reformation" 
was  a  return  to  Bible  Christianity,  to  primitive  purity 


45  Luther's   "Table  Talk." 

46  "Life  of  Luther,"   Lindsay,   p.   169. 


Introduction  xlix 

in  faith  and  morals.  It  was  the  assertion  of  the  great 
dignity  of  man — made  in  God's  image— and  of  his  in- 
dividual right  to  answer  to  his  Maker  for  his  stew- 
ardship, without  intervention  from  any  authority  of 
church,  saint,  or  angel.  It  was  the  throwing  off  the 
shackles  of  that  power  which  had  from  its  first  small 
beginning,  in  time  forged  link,  after  link,  of  a  chain 
of  religious  despotism,  that  had  enthralled  the  mind 
of  ail  Christendom  and  held  it  in  abject  slavery  for 
centuries.  The  reformation  was  the  soul's  declaration 
of  independence,  the  sum  total  of  all  the  good  that 
ever  had  happened  to  mankind.  The  bare  statement  of 
these  glittering  phrases,  of  pure  protestant  buncombe, 
have  been  successful  in  further  deepening  the  impres- 
sions already  received,  from  protestant  histories,  in  the 
public  schools.  Thus  the  average  protestant,  though 
often  changing  his  opinions,  perhaps  drifting  into  un- 
belief; yet  seldom  feels  called  upon  to  pass  the  bound- 
aries that  turned  his  youthful  feet,  but  does  his  thinking 
as  of  old  on  strictly  party  lines. 

Few,  who  fully  realize  the  extent  to  which  early 
prejudice  holds  unrelentless  sway  over  the  mind.  What 
our  mothers  first  taught  us,  what  our  fathers  thought, 
and  did,  the  state  of  life  that  we  were  born  to,  the 
games  we  played  by  ocean  side  or  in  the  velvet  mead- 
ow's shade;  the  earliest  opinions  formed;  these  all  are 
the  little  tyrants  that  urge  us  on  with  whip  and  spur 
through  life,  and  become  embodied  in  the  sentiments 
that  grace  our  tombstones  at  the  end. 

So  the  work  of  the  protestant  reformation  prospered 
in  Germany  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  princes 


1  Introduction 

whose  vanity  Luther  had  flattered  by  giving  authority 
in  the  ecclesiastical  as  well  as  the  secular  domain  of 
the  new  Church,  and  the  "reformation"  became  an 
accomplished  fact;  a  German  Church  for  the  Germans. 

But  what  a  "reformation"  was  that  which  silenced  the 
bells  of  Churches,  Monasteries,  and  Convents,  those  an- 
cient seats  of  learning  and  devotion  where,  until  now, 
the  daily  offering  of  the  Holy  Sacrifice  had  never,  since 
Christianity  shed  light  and  civilization  on  pagan  dark- 
ness, been  omitted?  What  a  reformation  was  that 
which  destroyed  Christian  Unity,  and  unsettled  the  faith 
of  so  large  a  number  of  the  German  people,  till  from 
believers,  they  became  a  nation  of  angry  disputants,  and 
irreverent  users  of  God's  Word?  What  a  reformation 
was  that  which  was  accomplished  by  an  appeal  to  igno- 
rance and  fanaticism,  the  might  of  princes,  the  fire- 
brand and  the  sword?  What  a  reformation  was  that 
which  in  its  train  brought  laxity  in  morals,  and  the 
legacy  of  divorce? 

When  Luther,  towards  the  close  of  his  life  again 
visited  Wittenberg,  the  city  where  he  discovered  "The 
Great  Reformation,"  he  thus  writes  concerning  the  spir- 
itual condition  of  this  reformed  city.  47  "The  disor- 
derly conduct  of  the  young  women,  their  fashionable 
dress,  which  he  pronounces  indecent,  and  the  utter  un- 
concern of  those  whose  duty  it  was  to  reprove  them, 
are  mentioned  as  reasons  why  he  should  leave.  'Away 
from  such  a  Sodom !  I  would  sooner  wander  about  and 
beg  my  bread  than  vex  my  last  days  with  the  irregular 
proceedings  at  Wittenberg/  " 

47  "Heroes  of  the  Reformation,"  Jacobs,   p.   205. 


Introduction  li 

The  number  of  evil  livers  in  the  Church,  during  the 
debasing  period  of  the  Renaissance,  may  have  been 
legion,  but  such  living  so  far  from  finding  its  justifi- 
cation in  doctrines  taught,  was  in  direct  and  open  vio- 
lation of  such  teaching;  while  the  well-known  laxity 
in  morals  at  Wittenberg  is  directly  traceable  to  the  re- 
former's regard  for  the  tenets  of  the  Antinomians,  as 
shown  in  his  declaration  that  "marriage  was  a  worldly 
thing  with  which  the  Church  had  nothing  to  do,"  and 
also  his  connivance  at  the  sin  of  bigamy,  if  done  "under 
the  seal  of  confession." 

What  then  did  Luther's  so-called  Reformation  give 
to  Germany?  A  church  suited  to  the  times  and  the 
people.  A  church  which,  in  the  absence  of  divine  au- 
thority, lay  prone  at  the  feet  of  princes  in  the  spirit  of 
the  most  abject  Csesarism,  thankful  if  allowed  to  live 
by  the  surrender  of  its  principles  whenever  required. 
A  church  suited  to  the  people — founded  by  a  distin- 
guished representative  of  fallibility — whose  gift  pre- 
eminent, the  power  of  using  the  most  vehement  in- 
vective— depending  for  its  perpetuity  and  correct  defini- 
tion in  teaching,  upon  the  popular  will  of  princes  and 
the  ever  changeable  mind  of  man.  A  church  which  in 
its  very  constitution  carried  the  seeds  of  its  early  dis- 
solution and  which,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  at  its  first 
contact  with  the  world  was  shivered  into  fragmentary 
and  opposing  sects. 

Doctor  Lord,  one  of  the  most  prejudicial  of  protest- 
ant  writers,  says :  48  "Northern  Germany — the  scene  of 
the  stupendous  triumphs  of  Luther — is  and  has  been, 

48  "Beacon  Lights,"   Vol.   Ill,   p.   270. 


Hi  Introduction 

since  the  time  of  Frederick  the  Great,  the  hotbed  of 
rationalistic  inquiries;  and  the  German  as  well  as  the 
French  and  Swiss  Churches  which  Calvin  controlled 
have  become  cold,  with  a  dreary  and  formal  Protest- 
antism without  poetry  or  life." 

LUTHER  AND  THE  BIBLE. 

In,  or  near,  A.  D.  1455 — twenty-eight  years  before 
the  birth  of  Luther — one  of  the  first  books  ever  printed, 
the  complete  Bible,  was  published  in  the  city  of  Mentz, 
Germany,  on  the  Feast  of  the  Assumption.  49  "We  may 
see,"  says  Mr.  Hallam,  "in  imagination  this  venerable 
and  splendid  volume  leading  up  the  crowded  myriads 
of  its  followers,  and  imploring  as  it  were  a  blessing 
upon  the  new  art  by  dedicating  its  first  fruits  to  the 
service  of  heaven." 

Between  the  years  1461  and  1470,  which  would  be 
at  least  thirteen  years  before  the  birth  of  Luther,  five 
Latin  Bibles  and  two  in  German  were  printed,  which 
looks  very  much  as  though  catholics  feared  and  hated 
the  Bible  and  wished  it  kept  from  the  people.  These 
facts  anent  the  publishing  of  so  many  editions  of  the 
Bible,  in  so  short  a  time  after  the  ability  to  print  was 
demonstrated,  serve  to  throw  light  on  former  miscon- 
ceptions, and  a  flavor  of  improbability  upon  the  follow- 
ing highly  dramatic  romance  of  D.  Aubigne : 

"One  day  as  Luther  was  opening  the  books  in  the 
library  of  Erfurth  one  after  another,  in  order  to  read 
the  names  of  the  authors,  one  which  he  opened  in  its 

49  "Introduction  to  Literature  of  Europe,"  p.   96. 


Introduction  liii 

turn,  drew  his  attention;  he  had  not  seen  anything 
like  it  till  that  hour;  he  reads  it,  it  is  a  Bible!  a  rare 
book,  unknown  at  that  time.  His  interest  is  strongly 
excited;  he  is  filled  with  astonishment,  at  finding  more 
in  this  volume  than  those  fragmentary  portions  of  the 
Gospels  and  Epistles  which  the  Church  has  selected 
to  be  read  to  the  people  in  their  places  of  worship 
every  Sunday  in  the  year.  Till  then  he  had  thought 
that  they  were  the  whole  of  the  word  of  God.  And 
here  are  so  many  pages,  so  many  chapters,  so  many 
books  of  which  he  had  no  idea!  His  heart  beats,  as 
he  holds  in  his  hand  all  the  Scripture  divinely  inspired. 
.  .  .  The  Reformation  lay  hid  in  that  Bible." 

Doctor  Maitland,  a  protestant  writer,  commenting 
upon  this  legend  of  D'Aubigne  says:  50  "Is  it  not. odd 
that  Luther  had  not  by  some  chance  heard  of  the 
Psalms?  But  there  is  no  use  in  criticising  such  non- 
sense. Such  it  must  appear  to  every  moderately  in- 
formed reader,  but  he  will  not  appreciate  its  absurdity 
until  he  is  informed  that  on  the  same  page,  this  precious 
historian  has  informed  his  readers,  that  in  the  course 
of  the  two  preceding  years,  Luther  had  applied  himself 
to  learn  the  philosophy  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  the 
writings  of  Occam,  Scott,  Bonaventure  and  Thomas 
Aquinas — of  course  none  of  these  knew  anything  about 
the  Bible.  The  fact  is  simply  this :  The  writings  of  the 
dark  ages  are,  if  I  may  use  the  expression,  made  of 
the  Scriptures.  I  do  not  merely  mean  that  the  writers 
constantly  quoted  the  Scriptures,  and  appealed  to  them 
as  authorities  on  all  occasions,  as  other  writers  have 

50  "Dark   Ages,"   Maitland    (fifth  edition),   p.    505. 


liv  Introduction 

done  since  their  day,  but  that  they  thought  and  wrote 
and  spoke  the  thoughts  and  words  and  phrases  of  the 
Bible,  and  that  they  did  this  constantly  and  habitually, 
as  the  natural  mode  of  expressing  themselves."  The 
same  writer  continuing  says:  "To  say  nothing  of  parts 
of  the  Bible,  we  know  of  at  least  twenty  different  edi- 
tions of  the  whole  Latin  Bible,  printed  in  Germany  be- 
fore Luther  was  born.  And  yet  more  than  twenty 
years  after,  we  find  a  young  man  who  had  received  a 
very  liberal  education,  and  who  nevertheless  did  not 
know  what  a  Bible  was  because  the  Bible  was  an  un- 
known book  in  those  days!" 

How  many  people  have  felt  their  pulse  quicken  and 
their  protestant  hearts  grow  warm,  at  the  recounting 
of  this  touching  story  about  Luther  finding  the  precious 
Bible.  This  little  story  has  accomplished  the  work  it 
was  intended  it  should  do,  just  as  well  as  though  it 
were  true. 

The  art  of  printing;  not  the  "Great  Reformation," 
gave  the  people  the  Bible. 

Says  Mr.  Hallam :  51  "A  more  immediate  effect  of 
overthrowing  the  ancient  system" — the  catholic — "was 
the  growth  of  fanaticism,  to  which  in  its  worst  shape, 
the  Antinomian  extravagances  of  Luther  yielded  too 
great  encouragement.  .  .  .  When  he  saw  the  dan- 
ger of  general  licentiousness,  which  he  had  unwarily 
promoted,  he  listened  to  the  wiser  counsels  of  Melanch- 
thon,  and  permitted  his  early  doctrine  upon  justification 
to  be  so  far  modified  in  expression,  that  it  ceased  to 
give  apparent  countenance  to  immorality;  though  his 

si  "Literature   of   Europe,"    Hallam,   Vol.    I,    p.    187. 


Introduction  Iv 

differences  with  the  Church  of  Rome  as  to  the  very 
question  from  which  he  had  started,  thus  became  of 
less  practical  importance,  and  less  tangible  to  ordinary 
minds  than  before." 

As  a  marked  decline  in  the  morals  of  the  people  was 
traceable  to  the  "Great  Reformation"  in  England;  so 
the  same  result  is  seen  to  follow  its  establishment  in 
Germany;  and  Luther  is  here  seen  endeavoring  to 
qualify  the  doctrine  of  his  invention — in  the  interests 
of  the  moral  code.  And  this  can  be  done  only  by  ap- 
proaching as  nearly  as  possible  the  teaching  of  that 
Church  which  he  had  left  in  anger  and  disdain  because 
of  such  teaching. 

The  San  Francisco  Monitor  says:  "If  the  Church 
were  really  corrupt,  the  true  reformer  would  aim  at 
purifying  it  from  within  and  purging  it  of  abuses. 
But  the  reformers  attempted  to  destroy  all  authority, 
to  overthrow  all  Christian  institutions  and  to  preach  a 
doctrine  of  license.  Such  men  could  not  be  genuine. 
They  might  excite  the  populace  against  the  Church  by 
denouncing  its  alleged  abuses,  but  they  themselves  in- 
troduced far  worse  abuses."  This  is  practically  ad- 
mitted by  the  protestant  historian  Hallam. 

52  "The  adherents  of  the  Church  of  Rome  have  never 
failed  to  cast  two  reproaches  on  those  who  left  them: 
one,  that  the  reform  was  brought  about  by  intemperate 
and  calumnious  abuse,  by  outrages  of  an  excited  popu- 
lace or  by  the  tyranny  of  princes;  the  other,  that,  after 
stimulating  the  most  ignorant  to  reject  the  authority  of 
their  Church,  it  instantly  withdrew  this  liberty  of  judg- 

52  "Literature   of   Europe,"    p.    200. 


Ivi  Introduction 

ment,  and  devoted  all  who  presumed  to  swerve  from 
the  line  drawn  by  law  to  virulent  obloquy,  or  some- 
times to  bonds  and  death.  These  reproaches,  it  may 
be  a  shame  for  us  to  own,  can  be  uttered  but  cannot 
be  refuted. 

"But  without  extenuating  what  is  morally  wrong, 
it  is  permitted  to  observe,  that  the  protestant  religion 
could,  in  our  human  view  of  consequences,  have  been 
established  by  no  other  means.  Those  who  act  by 
calm  reason  are  always  so  few  in  number,  and  often 
so  undeterminate  in  purpose,  that  without  the  aid  of 
passion  and  folly,  no  great  revolution  can  be  brought 
about." 

So  the  establishment  of  the  protestant  religion,  the 
panacea  for  the  world's  evils,  according  to  this  distin- 
guished apologist,  could  not  be  effected  "by  calm  rea- 
son"— owing  to  its  rarity  among  the  reformers(?) — 
but  by  the  aid  of  "passion  and  folly"  only.  We  may 
be  permitted  to  call  attention  to  the  fact  that  the 
Church  from  which  the  reformers  separated,  was  found- 
ed by  the  Redeemer  of  men,  who  had  need  of  neither 
of  the  "aids"  found  necessary  by  protestants,  in  their 
self-imposed  work  of  church  founding. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  the  limits  regarding  space, 
prevent  a  more  extended  acquaintance  with  the  life  and 
teachings  of  Martin  Luther,  as  it  would  tend  to  disillu- 
sionize the  mind  from  the  tyranny  of  early  impressions 
concerning  one  who,  under  the  sting  of  disappointed 
ambition,  made  most  strenuous  efforts  to  unhinge  the 
gates  of  the  Catholic  Church.  One  more  quotation 
from  the  life  of  Luther  must  suffice. 


Introduction  Ivii 

53  "Philip,  Landgrave  of  Hesse," — a  married  man — 
"brightest,  boldest  and  by  far  the  most  capable  of  all 
the  Evangelical  Princes,  had  fallen  in  love  with  Mar- 
garethe  Von  der  Saal."  He  asked  Luther's  consent  to  a 
marriage.  The  Landgrave  had  rendered  aid  and  com- 
fort to  Luther  in  his  warfare  against  the  pope,  and  the 
chief  protestant  shepherd  was  under  great  obligations 
to  this  shining  light  of  the  "pure  Gospel."  Luther's 
permission  to  the  Landgrave  of  Hesse  to  have  two 
wives,  may  be  summarized,  says  Doctor  Lindsay,  thus: 
"We  are  now  living  under  the  Gospel,  which  does  not 
prescribe  rules  for  the  external  life,  and  has  not  ex- 
pressly prohibited  bigamy.  In  individual  cases  of  dire 
need,  and  to  prevent  worse  results  the  Pastorate  may 
sanction  bigamy  in  a  purely  exceptional  way.  .  .  . 
Such  a  bigamous  marriage,  is  a  true  marriage,— the 
necessity  being  proved — in  the  sight  of  God  and  of 
conscience,  but  it  is  not  a  true  marriage  with  reference 
to  public  law  and  customs.  Therefore  such  a  marriage 
ought  to  be  kept  secret,  and  the  dispensation  which  is 
given  for  it,  ought  to  be  kept  under  the  seal  of  con- 
fession." 

Says  Fr.  Balmes :  54  "During  many  centuries  amid 
circumstances  the  most  various,  and  sometimes  the  most 
terrible,  the  Catholic  Church  struggled  with  intrepidity 
against  the  passions  of  potentates,  to  maintain  unsullied 
the  sanctity  of  marriage.  Neither  promises  nor  threats 
could  move  Rome ;  no  means  could  obtain  from  her  any- 
thing contrary  to  the  instructions  of  her  divine  Master; 

53  "Life  of  Luther,"  by  Dr.   Lindsay,   p.   255. 

54  "European    Civilization,"    Balmes,    p.    137. 


Iviii  Introduction 

protestantism,  at  the  first  shadow  of  the  slightest  em- 
barrassment, yields,  humbles  itself,  consents  to  polyg- 
amy, betrays  its  conscience,  opens  a  wide  door  to  the 
passions,  and  gives  up  to  them  the  sanctity  of  marriage, 
the  foundation  stone  of  true  civilization.  .  .  .  What 
would  now  be  the  condition  of  Europe,  if  Luther,  the 
founder  of  protestantism,  had  succeeded  in  inspiring 
society  with  the  indifference  which  he  shows  on  this 
point  in  his  commentary  on  Genesis?  'As  to  whether 
we  may  have  several  wives,'  says  Luther,  'the  authority 
of  the  patriarchs  leaves  us  completely  free.'  He  after- 
wards adds  that  'it  is  a  thing  neither  permitted  nor  pro- 
hibited, and  that  he  does  not  decide  anything  thereupon.' 5: 

In  McClure's  Magazine  of  December,  1909,  Professor 
G.  E.  Howard, — a  non-catholic — of  the  University  of 
Nebraska,  says:  "It  should  not  be  forgotten  that  liberal 
divorce  in  Christian  lands  is  the  fruit  of  that  phase  of 
the  renaissance  in  thought  that  we  call  the  Reforma- 
tion. For  in  its  origin  the  prevailing  modern  doctrine  of 
divorce,  like  the  prevailing  modern  conception  of  the 
form  and  nature  of  wedlock,  was  shaped  by  the  brain  of 
Martin  Luther.  .  .  .  Luther's  famous  dictum  that 
marriage  is  not  a  Sacrament  but  a  'temporal  wordly 
thing'  which  'does  not  concern  the  church/  led  the  mind 
of  the  western  world  to  sanction  civil  marriage  and  its 
counterpart,  civil  divorce." 

The  writings  of  the  founder  of  protestantism,  show  an 
entire  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  sacredness  of  mar- 
riage; and  at  the  birth  of  the  new  principle  of  private 
judgment,  the  reformers,  under  the  lead  of  that  false 
priest,  began  the  pleasing  task  of  reversing  the  judg- 


Introduction  lix 

ment  of  the  Catholic  Church,  who,  at  the  beginning, 
had  defined  marriage  to  be  a  holy  sacrament,  ordained 
by  Christ  and  indissoluble,  except  by  death.  In  the 
prosecution  of  this  work,  they  took  Bible  in  hand  and 
found  a  text,  which,  by  the  aid  of  55  private  interpreta- 
tion, they  professed  to  understand  in  a  sense  opposed  to 
that  of  the  Church.  This  new  interpretation  was  pro- 
fessedly in  the  interests  of  morality  as  a  relief  to  inno- 
cent persons,  in  a  marriage  the  ethical  principle  of  which 
had  been  profaned. 

As  it  is  a  favorite  device  of  the  devil,  to  appear  in 
the  garb  of  an  angel  of  light,  this  attack  upon  the  faith 
of  so  many  centuries,  came  under  the  cloak  of  religion; 
and  thus  was  handed  down  to  posterity,  by  the  first 
reformer,  the  legacy  of  divorce. 

Let  us  contemplate  for  a  moment  the  moral  effect 
upon  the  world  of  this  effort  at  reformation!  Divorce, 
the  monster  sin  of  the  age,  stands  responsible,  during 
the  last  twenty  years,  for  the  destruction  of  one  million 
three  hundred  thousand  homes.  By  this  multitude  of 
desolated  firesides,  broken  hearts  have  sorrowed,  angry 
passions  been  aroused,  families  divided  and  its  members 
scattered,  with  as  little  concern  for  their  future,  on  the 
part  of  parents,  as  though  they  were  so  many  kittens 
and  puppies.  The  parents  of  these  children,  having 
found  their  "soul  mates,"  are  now  only  interested  in 
obtaining  the  decree.  If  the  "lady"  be  young,  the  public 
press  will  refer  to  her  as  "the  charming  divorcee."  Not 
long  since  in  the  divorce  court  at  San  Francisco,  a 
young  lad  was  asked  by  the  judge  "which  parent  he 

55  Matt,    xix,    3-9. 


Ix  Introduction 

would  choose  to  go  with?"  The  boy  made  answer 
between  sobs,  "I  want  them  both." 

The  Protestant  Episcopal  Bishop  of  Maine  says : 
"Laxity  of  opinion  and  teachings  on  the  sacredness  of 
the  marriage  bond,  and  on  the  question  of  divorce  orig- 
inated among  the  protestants  of  Europe  in  the  sixteenth 
century.  It  soon  began  to  appear  in  the  legislation  of 
protestant  States  on  that  continent,  and  nearly  at  the 
same  time  to  affect  the  laws  of  New  England.  And 
from  that  time  to  the  present  it  has  proceeded  from  one 
degree  to  another  in  this  country,  until  especially  in  New 
England  the  Christian  conception  of  the  nature  and  obli- 
gations of  the  marriage  bond  finds  scarcely  any  recogni- 
tion in  legislation,  or,  as  must  thence  be  inferred  in 
the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the  community." 

"As  a  favor  to  the  church,"  says  the  San  Francisco 
Monitor:  "The  Rev.  Mr.  Hamilton,  a  prominent  Prot- 
estant Episcopal  divine,  implores  society  to  discounte- 
nance divorce  by  withholding  recognition  from  divorced 
persons  who  remarry.  He  is  addressing  a  representative 
audience  of  Newport  cottagers : 

"The  reverend  gentleman  frankly  admits  that  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  is  unable  to  enforce  its 
decrees  among  immediate  adherents,  or  to  curb  the 
destructive  current  of  divorce  among  fashionable  people 
who  profess  to  recognize  its  authority.  He  beseeches 
society,  therefore,  to  rescue  'the  Church'  from  an  unfor- 
tunate predicament  in  which  otherwise  it  must  be  hope- 
lessly involved. 

"The  people  of  Newport,  Dr.  Hamilton  declares,  are 
endowed  with  the  power  to  suppress  the  evil.  Con- 


Introduction  Ixi 

secutive  polygamists  are  sensitive  about  their  social 
standing,  though  coldly  indifferent  to  the  voice  of 
religion;  the  divorce  industry  would  be  effectively  dis- 
couraged, he  thinks,  by  the  refusal  of  society — especially 
the  Newport  brand — to  'know'  the  principals  in  these 
unholy  matrimonial  entanglements. 

"If  home-wreckers  are  received  into  society  and  into 
all  the  homes  of  the  land ;  if  home-wreckers  get  society's 
sanction  in  Newport,  concludes  Dr.  Hamilton,  they  do 
not  care  about  the  church's  censure  anywhere. 

"Such  a  confession  from  such  a  source,  places  'the 
Church'  in  a  very  peculiar  light.  Here  we  have  an 
appeal  to  society  to  save  the  church  from  a  danger 
against  which  the  church  itself  should  shield  society. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  church,  as  it  is  the  mission  of 
religion,  to  safeguard  the  moral  and  spiritual  life  of  its 
membership  from  baleful  influences  in  every  shape.  The 
church  which  is  forced  to  acknowledge  its  inability  to 
perform  an  obvious  duty  toward  its  adherents,  is  cer- 
tainly in  a  bad  way.  It  is  nearing,  if  it  has  not  reached 
the  end  of  its  usefulness,  as  a  moral  and  spiritual 
force.  .  .  . 

"The  pathos  of  Dr.  Hamilton's  singular  appeal  is 
accentuated  by  the  fact  that  the  particular  audience  to 
which  it  is  addressed  is  composed  in  large  part  of  the 
individuals  from  whom  its  members  are  asked  to  with- 
hold social  recognition.  Yet  upon  the  consciences  of 
these  people  the  rector  would  lay  the  burden  of  saving 
the  church." 

The  Episcopal  Convention  held  in  Boston,  October, 
1904,  in  its  legislation  on  divorce,  maintained  through 


Ixii  Introduction 

the  medium  of  its  Hierarchy,  the  Catholic  doctrine 
regarding  the  indissolubility  of  the  marriage  relation, 
but  the  public  press  that  brought  us  this  surprise,  also 
brought  the  intelligence  that  the  voice  of  the  Apostles, 
speaking  through  the  medium  of  the  Episcopal  Bishops, 
was  not  received  as  conclusive,  by  the  highly  respectable 
contingency  composed  of  capitalists,  manufacturers,  real 
estate  agents  and  dentists,  known  as  the  lay  delegates, 
who  refused  to  submit  to  the  promulgation  of  the  chief 
shepherds  concerning  moral  doctrine. 

That  these  bishops  may  not  be  confounded  with  those 
bishops  who  teach  as  the  Master  did,  as  "one  having 
authority,"  these  Episcopalian  Bishops  make  haste  to 
surrender  the  faith  at  the  behest  of  a  number  of  lay- 
men, and  effect  a  compromise  which  leaves  the  ques- 
tion about  where  it  was  before.  In  a  church  governed 
by  bishops,  it  would  be  but  natural  to  look  to  them  as 
the  representatives  of  that  church's  authority,  but  in  this 
case  authority  in  faith  and  morals,  seems  rather  the 
prerogative  of  the  laity  than  of  the  hierarchy. 

58  "The  evil  effects  of  divorce,"  says  Father  Yorke, 
"are  so  marked  in  the  world  around  us,  that  one  would 
think  nobody  could  be  found  to  defend  it.  It  is  the 
fruitful  cause  of  gross  immorality,  of  strife,  contentions, 
murder,  every  crime  on  the  statute  books.  It  ruins  the 
family,  and  in  doing  so  necessarily  the  state  and  the 
nation.  It  takes  away  the  glory  of  womanhood,  and 
makes  man  worse  than  the  beasts  of  the  field.  Depravity 
marks  its  progress,  desolation  follows  in  its  wake.  How 

so  S.  F.   Monitor. 


Introduction  Ixiii 

any  decent  man  can  defend  it,  seeing  what  havoc  it 
makes,  is  not  to  be  understood. 

"If  there  were  no  God  above  us  and  no  religion  but 
the  good  of  the  state,  our  common  sense  would  tell  us 
that  there  must  be  no  divorce." 

It  has  been  shown  by  protestant  testimony,  that  Eng- 
land's moral  condition  received  a  great  setback  from 
the  reformation,  and  Germany  executed  a  retrograde 
movement  at  the  same  time  and  from  the  same  cause, 
and  if  attention  be  given  to  the  moral  state  of  our  own 
land  under  the  curse  of  easy  divorce — also  admitted  by 
protestant  authorities  to  be  a  child  of  the  reformation — 
it  must  be  conceded  that  the  truth  of  the  proposition 
contained  in  the  title  of  this  work,  is  established  defi- 
nitely now  and  forever. 

The  history  of  a  nation  that  in  prosperity  forgets 
God,  ignores  the  moral  law,  that  debases  marriage, 
and  that  practices  race  suicide,  will  at  no  distant  day  be 
called  upon  to  chronicle  the  event  of  that  government's 
fall  and  passing  among  the  nations. 

The  Roman  Empire,  in  its  later  history,  practiced 
these  iniquities,  and  the  empire  fell.  The  empire  that 
extended  its  great  civilization,  its  arts,  and  maintained 
the  valor  of  its  arms  in  every  quarter  of  the  then 
known  world,  may  have  its  history  repeated  in  our  day 
and  among  us,  as  the  national  emblem  of  our  country 
shall  be  seen  waving  over  broken  hearthstones  and 
homes  desolated  by  divorce. 

It  is  with  pleasure  that  we  turn  from  this  subject, 
and  call  your  attention  to  a  quotation  from  one  of 


Ixiv  Introduction 

the  works  of  that  staunch  protestant  and  prince  of 
essayists,  Lord  Macaulay: 

"The  history  of  the  Catholic  Church  joins  together 
the  two  great  ages  of  human  civilization.  No  other 
institution  is  left  standing  which  carries  the  mind  back 
to  the  time  when  the  smoke  of  sacrifice  rose  from  the 
Pantheon,  and  when  camelopards  and  tigers  bounded  in 
the  Flavian  amphitheater.  The  proudest  royal  houses 
are  but  of  yesterday,  when  compared  with  the  line  of 
the  Supreme  Pontiffs.  That  line  we  trace  back  in  an 
unbroken  series,  from  the  Pope  who  crowned  Napoleon 
in  the  nineteenth  century,  to  the  Pope  who  crowned 
Pepin  in  the  eighth;  and  far  beyond  the  time  of  Pepin 
the  august  dynasty  extends.  The  Republic  of  Venice 
came  next  in  antiquity.  But  the  Republic  of  Venice  was 
modern  when  compared  with  the  Papacy,  and  the  Re- 
public of  Venice  is  gone,  and  the  Papacy  remains. 
The  Papacy  remains,  not  in  decay,  not  a  mere  antique, 
but  full  of  life  and  vigor.  The  Catholic  Church  is  still 
sending  forth  to  the  farthest  ends  of  the  world  mission- 
aries as  zealous  as  those  who  landed  in  Kent  with 
Augustine,  and  still  confronting  hostile  kings  with  the 
same  spirit  with  which  she  confronted  Attila. 

"The  number  of  her  children  is  greater  than  in  any 
former  time.  Her  spiritual  ascendency  extends  over 
the  vast  countries  which  lie  between  the  plains  of  the 
Missouri  and  Cape  Horn,  countries  which  a  century 
hence,  may  not  improbably  contain  a  population  as  large 
as  that  which  now  inhabits  Europe.  Her  acquisitions 
in  the  New  World  have  more  than  compensated  for 
what  she  has  lost  in  the  Old.  The  members  of  her 


Introduction  Ixv 

communion  are  certainly  not  fewer  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  millions,  and  it  will  be  difficult  to  show  that 
all  other  Christian  sects  united  amount  to  a  hundred 
and  twenty  millions. 

"Nor  do  we  see  any  sign  which  indicates  that  the 
term  of  her  long  dominion  is  approaching.  She  saw 
the  commencement  of  all  the  governments  and  of  all 
the  ecclesiastical  establishments  that  now  exist  in  the 
world ;  and  we  feel  no  assurance  that  she  is  not  destined 
to  see  the  end  of  them  all.  She  was  great  and  respected 
before  the  Saxon  had  set  foot  on  Britain,  before  the 
Frank  had  passed  the  Rhine,  when  Grecian  eloquence 
still  flourished  at  Antioch,  when  idols  were  still  wor- 
shiped in  the  temple  of  Mecca.  And  she  may  still  exist 
in  undiminished  vigor  when  some  traveler  from  New 
Zealand  shall  in  the  midst  of  a  vast  solitude,  take  his 
stand  on  a  broken  arch  of  London  Bridge,  to  sketch  the 
ruins  of  St.  Paul's.  We  often  hear  it  said  that  the 
world  is  constantly  becoming  more  and  more  enlight- 
ened, and  that  this  enlightening  must  be  favorable  to 
protestantism  and  unfavorable  to  Catholicism.  We  wish 
that  we  could  think  so.  But  we  see  great  reason  to 
doubt  whether  this  be  a  well-founded  expectation.  We 
see  that  during  the  last  two  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
the  human  mind  has  been  in  the  highest  degree  active — 
that  it  has  made  great  advances  in  every  branch  of 
natural  philosophy — that  it  has  produced  innumerable 
inventions  tending  to  promote  the  conveniences  of  life — 
that  medicine,  surgery,  chemistry,  engineering,  have 
been  greatly  improved — that  government,  police,  and 
law  have  been  improved  though  not  to  the  same  extent. 


Ixvi  Introduction 

Yet  we  see  that  during  two  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
protestantism  has  made  no  conquests  worth  speaking 
of.  Nay,  we  believe  that  so  far  as  there  has  been  a 
change,  that  change  has  been  in  favor  of  the  Church 
of  Rome." 

Whatever  history,  be  it  catholic  or  protestant,  that 
we  read,  it  must  be  conceded  by  all,  that  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  nations  was  the  result  of  the  teaching  of  a 
united  Church  in  obedience  to  the  See  of  Rome. 

The  Catholic  Church  stands  out  as  the  great  central 
figure,  in  the  history  of  the  nations.  In  America  it 
cannot  be  considered  an  exotic,  it  was  here  at  work 
teaching  the  Christian  religion  years  before  the  "Pil- 
grim Fathers,"  armed  with  a  charter  giving  them  a 
monopoly  in  the  fishing  interests  of  the  Atlantic  coast, 
left  the  snug  harbors  of  Holland,  where  they  had  not 
suffered  persecution  at  the  hands  of  the  phlegmatic 
Dutch. 

Our  separated  brethren  for  obvious  reasons  tolerate 
the  presence  here  of  the  Catholic  Church,  but  they 
seek  no  knowledge.  Why?  Because  protestant  minis- 
ters, day  and  Sunday  school  teachers,  and  the  protestant 
press,  have  told  them  all  about  it.  Without  suspicion 
that  these  sources  of  information  may  through  preju- 
dice be  unreliable,  our  friends,  laying  aside  this  cus- 
tomary wisdom,  continue  to  confine  their  attention  to 
such  authorities  and  to  magazine  articles  and  histories 
written  for  no  other  purpose  than  the  confirmation  of 
the  religious  fairy  tales  to  which  at  their  mother's  knee 
they  listened,  and  the  spirit  of  which  was  breathed  in 


Introduction  Ixvii 

the  native  air  of  their  child  life,  and  confirmed  later 
in  protestant  school  books  and  general  literature. 

One  might  think  that  a  dictionary  could  be  consulted 
without  danger  of  being  taught  protestantism,  but  such 
is  not  the  fact,  it  too  has  its  little  protestant  sermons. 
In  the  Standard  Dictionary,  you  will  find  that  a  Jesuit 
is  "a  crafty,  insidious,  double-dealing  person,  a  subtle 
casuist,  an  intriguer.  Their  casuists  have  held  that, 
when  truth  cannot  be  revealed,  mental  reservation  is 
allowable ;  and  that  when  acts  are  indifferent  in  them- 
selves, the  end  to  be  attained  determines  their  ethical 
character.  But  they  have  been  charged  with  teaching 
that  pledges  may  be  made  with  a  mental  reservation, 
and  that  the  end  justifies  the  means."  This  protestant 
reputation  "has  caused  them  to  be  expelled  from  both 
protestant  and  catholic  countries." 

No  treatise  has  ever  been  published  by  the  Society  of 
Jesus,  which  could  by  even  the  most  extravagant  as- 
sumption, be  deemed  as  favoring  the  declaration  that 
"the  end  justifies  the  means,"  on  the  contrary  they  have 
repudiated  and  anathematized  it  as  a  morally  wrong 
principle  of  action  thousands  of  times,  as  well  as  that 
other  and  kindred  fallacy  in  regard  to  making  prom- 
ises with  mental  reservations. 

The  assertion  that  a  Jesuit  is  "an  insidious,  crafty, 
double-dealing  person,"  is  not  sustained  by  anything  in 
the  nature  of  proof,  and  could  be  asserted  in  regard  to 
the  editor-in-chief  of  the  Standard  Dictionary  with 
equal  truth  and  politeness. 

Jesuits  have  been  expelled  from  catholic  and  pro- 
testant countries,  for  reasons  complimentary  to  them- 


Ixviii  Introduction 

selves.  Their  founder  prayed  that,  in  imitation  of  the 
Master,  they  might  suffer  persecution ;  as  "the  blood 
of  Martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  Church." 

This  prayer  was  answered  in  the  English  Inquisition, 
and  in  many  countries  and  in  many  centuries  of  time 
before  the  Standard  Dictionary  came  to  add  its  mite. 
And  then  as  now,  when  bankrupt  kings  wish  to  replen- 
ish their  empty  treasury,  they  expel  the  Jesuits,  and  "ac- 
quire" their  property. 

If  the  editor  had  ever  heard  what  the  Jesuits  suf- 
fered in  their  work  of  converting  the  Indians  of  the 
great  west  in  America,  he  might  have  thought  them 
worthy  of  at  least  a  respectful  mention  in  his  prot- 
estant  dictionary. 

Has  the  editor-in-chief  ever  read  how  these  Jesuit 
Missionaries  went  out  into  the  wilderness  to  convert 
and  civilize  the  savages? 

Through  the  pathless  forests,  and  the  borders  of 
the  Great  Lakes,  carrying  the  few  necessaries  they  pos- 
sessed on  their  backs,  together  with  a  portable  altar 
and  a  few  pictures  to  assist  them  in  telling  the  story 
of  the  Cross,  traveled  foot-sore  and  weary,  among  the 
different  tribes,  these  men.  They  were  not  generally 
welcomed  by  the  Indians,  and  were  often  subjected  to 
the  same  cruel  treatment  as  that  accorded  to  captives 
taken  in  battle.  Some  had  their  thumbs  cut  off  with 
sharp  stones,  some  in  like  manner  their  toes,  and  some- 
times a  foot  or  a  hand. 

A  favorite  diversion  of  these  children  of  the  forest, 
was  to  insert  under  the  skin,  pegs  or  splinters  of 


Introduction  Ixix 

pitch-pine  which  when  set  on  fire  produced  the  most 
excruciating  suffering. 

When  they  returned  from  the  war-path  without 
captives  to  torture,  they  brought  out  the  missionaries 
and  took  revenge  on  them,  with  many  ingenious  and 
varied  devices  of  torture. 

Enduring  the  mental  anguish  resulting  from  the 
beastly  habits  of  the  Indians,  when  obliged  as  they 
often  were,  to  live,  eat,  drink,  sleep,  and  be  as  it 
were  one  of  them  the  better  to  win  their  friendship 
and  confidence ;  enduring  cold  and  hunger  on  the  long 
journeys  through  the  forests,  loaded  down  like  beasts 
of  burden,  but  if  permitted  always  carrying  their  altar 
and  pictures;  they  fully  believed  "that  the  end  (the 
conversion  of  the  heathen)  justified  the  means."  Had 
they  not  been  "crafty  Jesuits,"  the  sufferings  of  these 
heroic  patient  men,  living  for  savages  a  life  like  this, 
and  at  their  death  to  unknown  graves  descending,  "un- 
wept, unhonored,  and  unsung,"  would  have  won  the 
admiration,  and  challenged  the  wonder  of  the  world. 
But,  that  the  editor  of  this  protestant  dictionary,  know- 
ing all  this  and  more,  could  in  his  comfortable  office, 
supervising  this  work  for  revenue  only,  say  these 
things  of  these  men,  is  a  wonder  incomparably  greater! 

Another  cause  which  stimulates  to  greater  activity 
the  giant  protestant  prejudice,  and  which  deters  our 
friends  from  making  inquiries  concerning  the  Catholic 
Church  is,  that  the  common  people,  the  unlearned,  the 
laboring  poor,  are  so  conspicuously  present  there. 

In  a  street  car  recently  a  number  of  daintily  attired 
ladies  were  talking  together,  as  the  car  passed  where 


Ixx  Introduction 

a  beautiful  protestant  church  was  in  process  of  erec- 
tion, a  lady  remarked:  "That's  where  I  shall  go  to 
church  when  it's  finished ;  the  best  people  will  go  there !" 

While  the  "best  people"  may  be  in  general  the  most 
agreeable,  the  old  Church,  in  imitation  of  her  divine 
Lord's  practice,  is  no  respecter  of  persons;  the  lame, 
the  halt,  the  blind,  the  ignorant  and  "the  poor,  have 
the  Gospel  preached  to  them." 

Those  who  are  looking  for  a  church  where  only  the 
rich  and  fashionable  go,  will  have  no  difficulty  in  find- 
ing many  such  among  our  friends  in  the  cities  and 
towns  of  the  world. 

Those  on  the  contrary  who  do  not  expect  a  church 
to  be  entirely  free  from  those  who,  like  the  divine  Mas- 
ter, were  among  the  poor  and  despised  of  the  world, 
might,  could  they  inquire  with  dispassionate  minds  re- 
garding the  teachings  of  the  Church — especially  if  the 
writer  could  avoid  raising  by  too  plain  speech  a  spirit 
of  opposition — reap  much  profit  thereby. 


CHAPTER  I. 
UNITY. 

The  final  conclusion  of  discussions  concerning  faith  is 
often  reached,  by  protestants,  not  through  agreement, 
but  through  concurrence  in  expressions  regarding  the 
hopelessness  of  agreement.  That  "we  cannot  all  think 
alike,"  seems  a  settled  conviction ;  but  were  it  to  be  sc 
amended  as  to  read  "we  will  not  all  think  alike,"  this 
must  be  the  real  truth,  for,  the  unamended  saying  is  a 
declaration  of  God's  inability  to  reveal  a  religion  to  all 
mankind  sufficiently  reasonable  for  all  mankind  to  ac- 
cept, while  the  amended  saying  points  directly  to  the 
supposition  that  the  fault  is  theirs,  and  that  it  is  a 
fault  of  the  will  and  not  of  the  understanding. 

The  desire,  the  will  to  disbelieve  the  divine  teach- 
ings, to  ignore  the  experience  of  the  past,  to  find  a 
new  way,  that  you  may  have  the  satisfaction  of  leading 
others  up  the  pathway  that  you  alone  discovered  and 
from  which  vantage  ground  complacently  point  out, 
through  clearer  air,  the  mass  of  common  toilers  in  the 
dusty  plains  below — is  after  all  but  the  beggarly  rec- 
ompense of  an  overweening  pride.  In  the  desire  to  be 
leaders,  not  followers,  among  men,  is  found  a  motive 
far  more  potent  for  the  many,  than  that  of  zeal  for  the 
glory  of  God.  And  in  this  lies  the  secret  of  the  origin 
and  multiplication  of  sects. 

The  religious  denominations  have,   as   a  consequence 


2  Unity 

of  these  ambitious  motives,  increased  in  numbers  to  so 
great  an  extent,  as  to  cause,  among  the  older  sects, 
misgivings — in  connection  with  questions  of  finance — 
as  to  the  desirability  of  further  divisions.  It  would 
appear  that  four  hundred  denominations  ought  to  be 
sufficient  for  the  expression  of  all  the  opinions  con- 
nected with  the  varying  phases  of  protestantism. 

Among  the  sects,  an  increasing  number  of  individ- 
uals will  be  found  who  are  unwearied  searchers  after 
opinions  novel  and  strange  and  which  differ,  more  or 
less,  from  the  standard  of  the  organization  to  which 
they  belong.  Then  comes  the  great  army  of  the  in- 
different, who  have  made  shipwreck  of  their  faith  on 
the  rocks  and  sands  of  the  numberless  cults  and  isms- 
of  the  day.  To  this  class  it  is  of  small  consequence 
what  one  believes,  so  long  as  they  are  sincere  in  it. 

So  besides  the  large  number  of  religious  bodies,  we 
have  in  each  one,  as  a  wheel  within  a  wheel,  a  great 
number  of  conflicting  opinions  and  beliefs,  which,  with 
the  progress  of  time,  become  less  and  less  sharply  de- 
fined, finally  passing  beyond  the  realms  of  certain  knowl- 
edge into  the  broad  fields  of  speculation  and  conjecture; 
as  western  skies,  at  close  of  day,  flash  out  their  richest 
coloring  just  as  the  passing  moment  changes  all  dis- 
tinctive outlines  into  weird  and  shapeless  phantoms  of 
the  night. 

This  divided  condition  of  the  protestant  world  then, 
is  the  outcome  of  that  false  maxim  that  "we  cannot — 
meaning  will  not — all  think  alike."  The  education  of 
protestants  has  always  this  end  in  view,  of  impressing 
upon  all  minds  the  inestimable  advantage  accruing  from 


Unity  3 

this  bequest  of  the  "reformers."  That  with  which  we 
are  from  youth  familiar  causes  no  surprise.  Little 
wonder  that  our  friends  are  so  slow  in  realizing  their 
loss,  when  they  have  never  experienced  the  perfect  rest 
resulting  from  that  sure  and  certain  faith  which  is  the 
attendant  of  Christian  Unity. 

The  lion,  born  in  captivity,  paces  wearily  back  and 
forth  the  length  of  his  cage;  while  his  far-seeing  eyes 
roam  over  the  distant  forest's  shade — his  natural  home 
— his  body  cannot  pass  the  iron  bars  to  follow.  He 
feels  that  something  is  wrong,  perhaps  that  he  is 
wronged,  but  never  having  had  a  taste  of  freedom, 
never  having  enjoyed  the  thousand  and  one  sweet 
odors  of  the  jungle  or  pleasures  of  the  chase,  he 
knows  not,  as  the  captive  of  yesterday  knows,  the  lack 
of  what  he  never  enjoyed. 

Protestant  ministers  for  nearly  a  half  century  have 
confessed  to  a  feeling  of  disquietude  as  though  they, 
too,  felt  that  something  was  wrong  in  the  practical 
working  of  their  systems  of  religion.  "There  is  at  this 
time,"  say  they,  "a  great  feeling  of  unrest  throughout 
the  religious  world."  A  Presbyterian  divine,1  pastor 
of  a  "rich  and  influential"  church,  recently  said  in  sub- 
stance: This  feeling  of  unrest,  which  seems  to  be  in- 
creasing throughout  the  world,  amounts  at  times  to 
almost  torture.  What  is  to  be  the  final  outcome? 
Will  it  lead  us  to  a  higher  plane,  or  plunge  us  down 
to  the  lower  level  of  darkness  and  despair?  The  feel- 
ing of  unrest,  complained  of  by  this  learned  Doctor,  is 
the  natural  outcome  of  uncertainty  regarding  faith.  In 

i  Dr.   Coyle. 


4  Unity 

confirmation  of  this,  a  second  protestant  minister  is 
cited. 

The  Rev.  J.  W.  Conley  of  Fresno,  California,  in  a 
sermon  at  the  Baptist  Church  upon  the  subject  of 
"Saving  the  Church,"  said :  2  "The  danger  confronting 
the  church  now  is  abstraction  and  uncertainty  of  belief. 
There  is  little  direct  opposition  to  Christianity,  but 
there  is  vagueness.  The  danger  to  the  church  to-day  is 
the  haze  of  uncertainty." 

In  a  sermon  preached  at  Springfield,  Massachusetts, 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Woodrow  said :  3  "There  are  enough 
Christians  in  many  communities  to  affect  them  power- 
fully for  good,  but,  alas,  they  are  split  up  into  sects  and 
factions  and  torn  by  petty  jealousies. 

"In  our  Western  States  as  soon  as  a  new  town  starts, 
we  have  the  spectacle  of  half  a  dozen  churches,  each 
with  a  handful  of  adherents,  and  each  receiving  mis- 
sionary help,  when  there  should  be  one  self-respecting 
and  self-supporting  church.  This  is  as  true  in  New 
England  as  in  the  West.  We  see  small  towns  with 
three  or  four  churches,  when  if  all  the  people  in  the 
town  went  to  church,  it  would  not  make  one  good 
congregation." 

These  protestant  teachers  here  show:  First,  a  gen- 
eral and  increasing  condition  of  unrest  throughout  the 
religious  world — meaning  themselves — which  amounts 
to  almost  torture;  Secondly,  this  unrest  is  traced  to  un- 
certainty, vagueness,  and  haziness  in  teaching  the  Chris- 
tian faith;  Thirdly,  it  appears  that  this  unrest  and  un- 

2  San  Francisco  Call's  report  of  Baptist  Convention,  Nov.  15,  1911. 
s  Springfield  Republican. 


Unity  5 

certainty  come  as  the  sad  result  of  all  not  willing  to 
believe  alike  in  humble  submission  to  that  desire  ex- 
pressed in  the  Gospel  by  the  divine  Son  to  his  Father: 
that  they  all  might  be  one,  as  he  and  the  Father  were 
One. 

Our  adversaries  are,  seemingly,  in  the  vanguard  in 
their  appreciation,  in  worldly  things,  of  the  many  ad- 
vantages of  Unity,  and  are  exceedingly  apt  at  institut- 
ing comparisons  between  the  prosperity  of  the  United 
States  among  nations,  and  that  of  the  same  States  if 
dismembered  and  dissevered.  The  motto  that  "in 
union  is  strength"  seems  to  be  regarded  as  Gospel 
truth  while  in  affairs  connected  with  the  Gospel  they 
profess  to  believe  that  in  disunion  there  is  strength! 

Our  Saviour  established  one  true  Church.  5  "Be 
careful  to  keep  the  Unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of 
peace;  one  body  and  one  Spirit,  as  you  are  called  in 
one  hope  of  your  calling;  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one  bap- 
tism, one  God  and  Father  of  all,  who  is  above  all,  and 
in  us  all."  This  is  paraphrased  by  Cardinal  Gibbons, 
in  this  manner :  6  "As  you  all,"  he  says,  "worship  one 
God,  and  not  many  Gods;  as  you  acknowledge  the 
same  divine  Mediator  of  redemption,  and  not  many 
mediators;  as  you  are  sanctified  by  the  same  divine 
Spirit,  and  not  by  many  spirits;  as  you  all  hope  for 
the  same  heaven,  and  not  different  heavens,  so  you 
must  all  profess  the  same  faith." 

It  is  not,  by  any  process   of   reasoning,   conceivable 


4  St.  John,  ch.  17,  v.   22. 

5  Ephes.   iv,  3-6. 

e  "Faith  of  our  Fathers,"  p.  24. 


6  Unity 

that  our  divine  Lord  could  have  founded  a  Church  on 
the  doctrine  of  a  Trinity  in  Unity,  and  then  one  on 
the  Unity  without  the  Trinity;  nor  is  it  possible  that 
he  could  have  built  a  Church  on  Peter,  and  then  a 
Church  in  opposition  to  that,  upon  the  right  of  Private 
Judgment.  Could  our  Lord  found  a  Church  to  teach 
the  eternal  punishment  of  the  wicked,  and  another  that 
the  eternity  of  punishment  is  no  true  doctrine?  Could 
the  Eternal  Wisdom  found  a  religion  to  teach  that 
Christ  was  God,  and  then  one  to  teach  that  he  was  not? 

God  is  the  author  of  order,  not  of  confusion.  If  a 
stated  proposition  be  true,  its  opposite  cannot  also  be 
true.  Would  our  Lord  establish  a  Church  so  unrea- 
sonable in  its  requirements,  that  all  could  not,  if  they 
would,  submit  to  them?  When  our  friends  say  that 
they  cannot  all  think  alike,  they  virtually  deny  the 
truth  of  revealed  religion.  Certainly  God  could  reveal 
but  one  religion,  and  that  one  religion  must  be  true. 

For  the  space  of  fifteen  centuries  Christian  Unity 
was  an  historical  fact.  All  nations  were  as  one  fam- 
ily living  in  Unity  under  one  head  the  father  of  the 
household ;  as  a  kingdom  under  one  king ;  as  the  sheep 
of  the  fold  under  one  shepherd;  as  the  different  mem- 
bers of  the  human  body  under  one  head.  As  the 
branches  of  trees,  and  vines,  and  flowers,  receive  their 
life  and  beauty  from  their  union  with  the  main  trunk, 
so  the  different  nations  preserved  their  spiritual  life 
and  Unity,  by  obedience  to  one  supreme  head  on  earth, 
the  Roman  Pontiff. 

During  this  long  period,  the  heathen  nations  con- 
verted to  the  faith  became  its  brave  defenders,  and 


Unity  7 

the  Saracen  legions  were  driven  back  to  their  deserts, 
and  the  priceless  treasure  of  the  Christian  faith,  to- 
gether with  the  learning  of  ancient  Greece  and  Rome, 
preserved  to  posterity.  In  the  realm  of  conjecture, 
what  might  have  been  the  result  of  this  long  conflict 
with  the  Moslem,  had  Christianity  been  divided  as  at 
present  into  a  large  number  of  sects,  each  under  their 
separate  leaders,  and  more  or  less  at  war  among  them- 
selves ? 

When  the  Scotch  Covenanters  were  drawn  up  in 
battle  array,  waiting  to  repel  an  incursion  into  their 
domains  by  the  Royalists  of  England  in  the  reign  of 
Charles  First,  they,  unfortunately  for  themselves,  be- 
came engaged  in  a  war  of  words  in  regard  to  the 
proper  understanding  of  a  text  of  Scripture.  The  bat- 
tle which  they  had  not  come  out  to  fight,  continued  to 
be  waged  right  merrily  and  with  such  vehemence  and 
constantly  increasing  din,  as  to  enable  the  Royalists 
to  approach  near  enough  without  being  seen,  to  pour 
a  well  directed  volley  into  their  ranks,  which  broke  up 
the  discussion  and  accelerated  their  flight. 

In  pre-reformation  times,  the  age  of  Christian  Unity, 
by  the  united  labor  and  self  sacrifice,  for  the  glory  of 
God,  of  the  whole  people,  were  built  those  magnificent 
temples,  the  Gothic  Cathedrals  of  Europe,  which  trav- 
elers are  wont  to  cross  the  seas  to  admire.  They  may 
be  given  great  admiration  and  not  be  over-praised. 
They  are  the  only  Churches  worth  going  a  stone's 
throw  to  see.  Architects  may  imitate,  but  never  hope 
to  rival,  those  monumental  works  built  by  the  inspira- 
tion of  a  Christian  people  whose  heart,  as  well  as  skill, 


8  Unity 

was  in  the  energy  put  forth.  Their  harmonious  pro- 
portions, vast  size,  their  graceful  springing  arches  and 
tracery  with  wealth  of  detail  lavishly  bestowed,  make 
these  huge  piles  of  solid  masonry  that  have  bid  de- 
fiance to  the  elements  and  the  disintegrating  hand  of 
time  for  centuries,  seem  light  and  airy  as  a  lacework 
pattern,  or  the  fleecy  clouds  towards  which  their  lofty 
spires  and  pinnacled  turrets  point.  On  earth  indeed, 
but  yet  disdaining  such  low  and  universal  support  as 
mother  earth  affords,  stand,  in  most  dainty  equipoise, 
as  if  in  contemplation  of  a  speedy  upward  flight  as 
in  the  morning's  crimson  glow,  the  lark's  ecstatic  song 
mounts  upward  to  the  gates  of  peace  and  light. 

To  uphold  the  Cross  on  which  the  King  of  Glory 
died;  to  house  a  Tabernacle  wherein  the  King  of  Glory 
might  make  his  dwelling  place  with  the  children  of  his 
love  in  temples  made  with  hands;  this  was  the  inspira- 
tion of  all  Christian  Architecture;  this  the  noble  am- 
bition that  fired  the  hearts  and  strengthened  the  sinews 
of  the  Medieval  builders  who  raised  to  the  glory  of 
God,  the  Cathedrals  of  the  world. 

Take  a  brief  glance  at  how  these  noble  works  of 
the  builders'  art  fared  during  "The  Great  Reforma- 
tion." 

7  ''Lead  was  stripped  from  the  roof  of  the  finest 
church  without  the  slightest  hesitation  and  melted  at  a 
fire  made  with  wood  of  stalls,  screen  work,  or  rood. 
Orders  were  sent,  to  wreck  the  roof  and  'pull  the 
lead'  of  some  of  the  most  glorious  architectural  monu- 

7  "Henry  VIII.  and  the  English  Monasteries,"  Gasquet,  Vol.  II, 
p.  426. 


Unity  9 

ments  which  England  then  contained.  Bands  of  work- 
men went  about  from  place  to  place  throughout  the 
country,  lit  their  fires  in  the  naves  or  chancels  of  abbey 
Churches,  and  occupied  themselves  for  weeks,  in  melt- 
ing the  coverings  of  roofs,  and  the  gutters,  spouts  and 
pipes  from  the  building  into  pigs,  the  sale  of  which 
might  add  a  few  pounds  to  the  royal  plunder. 
Like  a  swarm  of  locusts  the  wreckers  went  forth  over 
the  land,  and  what  they  found  fair  and  comely,  they 
left  black  with  their  smelting  fires  and  useless  ruins." 

The  testimony  of  contemporary  writers  makes  evi- 
dent the  fact,  that  on  the  eve  of  "The  Great  Reforma- 
tion" in  England,  Church  building  was  progressing  with 
the  usual  enthusiasm.  This  is  a  very  significant  fact, 
for,  as  our  fellow  helper,  Rev.  Mr.  Woodrow,  has  said: 
"When  men  are  in  doubt  about  the  stability  of  the 
foundation  they  do  not  build." 

When  the  cyclone  of  "The  Great  Reformation"  struck 
the  land,  Church  building,  general  learning,  all  prog- 
ress in  the  arts  and  sciences,  stood  still,  as  England, 
no  longer  as  in  the  old  days  "Merrie  England,"  bent 
her  head  to  the  storm  of  fanatical  persecution  that 
swept  in  one  broad  wave  of  desolation  over  the  land. 

The  "reformers"  found  the  use  of  much  whitewash 
necessary  in  obliterating  the  mural  paintings  of  Scrip- 
ture scenes — the  Bible  of  the  poor — that  decorated  the 
Churches,  Chapels,  and  Cathedrals  which  they  spared 
for  their  own  use. 

So  the  "reformers"  like  a  cloud  of  locusts  in  a  fail- 
field  of  wheat  descended  upon  the  land,  and  those 
beautiful  Churches,  so  fair  to  see,  which  the  ignorant 


io  Unity 

and  debased  catholics  had  reared  to  the  honor  of  God, 
were  by  these  exceedingly  intelligent  and  pious  gentle- 
men, the  "reformers,"  demolished  and  thrown  down. 

It  was  not  the  chief  part  of  their  offense  that  lay 
in  roofless  Churches  and  blackened  walls ;  in  monks 
hanging  in  chains  over  slow  fires ;  in  scores  of  heads 
on  poles  and  pikes,  that  decorated  the  sides  of  bridges 
and  adorned  archways ;  it  was  not  the  trail  of  blood, 
nor  rack  nor  dungeon;  it  was  not  gaunt  hunger  and 
tears,  desolation  and  want ;  these  were  only  the  com- 
mon incidents  of  the  inquisition  under  Thomas  Crom- 
well the  desolating  marks  of  which,  in  a  few  genera- 
tions, might  be  obliterated  and  its  cruelties  forgotten. 
But  it  was  in  the  violation  of  God's  law  in  the  de- 
struction of  Unity,  that  the  sum  and  substance  of 
their  offending  lay. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  understand  the  very  sad  results 
which  necessarily  follow  from  the  loss  to  the  Christian 
world  of  Unity.  That  respect  which  the  masses  would 
feel  for  the  voice  of  a  united  Church,  can  never  be 
inspired  by  the  uncertain,  hesitating  voices  of  a  multi- 
tude of  sects. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  Huntington  at  an  Episcopal  Conven- 
tion in  San  Francisco,  said :  8  "How  can  we  correlate 
and  unify  the  religious  forces  of  the  Republic?  In  this 
convention  we  have  a  memorial  seeking  denominational 
Unity  in  the  matter  of  marriage  and  divorce.  Yet  be- 
cause of  our  unhappy  dissensions  we  know  that  noth- 
ing can  be  done."  Here  the  Doctor  bewails  the  fact 

8  Public  press. 


Unity  ii 

that  because  of  the  loss  of  Unity  protestants  cannot 
teach  moral  doctrine.  '  Tis  true  'tis  pity,  'tis  pity  'tis, 
'tis  true."  Again  the  Doctor  says:  "In  our  public 
schools,  where  our  youth  are  taught  everything  but  their 
duty  to  God  and  their  neighbor,  that  simple  religious 
teaching  canot  be  instilled  into  the  minds  of  our  chil- 
dren, because  of  the  unhappy  divisions  of  the  Christian 
Church." 

The  Doctor,  in  no  uncertain  terms,  here  admits  that 
the  divisions  among  protestants  prevent  their  teaching 
faith  and  morals.  Now  as  the  Church  was  founded 
for  the  express  purpose  of  teaching  faith  and  morals, 
why  may  we  not  accept  this  confession  of  incompe- 
tency,  from  so  distinguished  a  light,  as  being  conclu- 
sive of  the  entire  subject?  The  loss  of  Christian 
Unity,  prevents  the  teaching  to  children  in  public  schools 
of  any  faith.  The  children  who  spend  five  days  in 
every  week  in  acquiring  secular  knowledge,  and  about 
thirty  minutes  on  Sunday  in  the  pursuit  of  religious 
knowledge,  will  not  be  long  in  striking  a  balance  as  to 
the  relative  importance  which  the  parents  give  the  two, 
and  will  naturally  grow  up  with  but  slight  apprecia- 
tion and  knowledge  of  the  Christian  religion,  while 
worldly  pursuits  will  be  the  all  absorbing  occupation 
of  the  mind. 

The  loss  of  Unity,  has  caused  vast  numbers  of  prot- 
estants to  be  enrolled  in  the  great  army  of  the  in- 
different, because  their  inquiries  after  truth  met  no 
sure  and  certain  answer.  When  one  inquires  the  way 
of  salvation,  is  it  not  better  that  one  voice  should  an- 
swer, rather  than  a  babel  of  tongues?  Protestant  mis- 


12  Unity 

sionaries  are  sometimes  given  advice  by  the  hard- 
headed  heathen  after  this  manner:  "Brothers,  why  not 
first  go  home  and  agree  among  yourselves  what  it  is 
that  you  wish  to  teach  us,  and  then  come  and  we  will 
hear  you." 

The  Japanese  Consul  in  Chicago,  gave  as  a  reason 
for  the  slow  progress  made  by  Christianity  in  his 
country :  9  "One  reason  is,  that  among  themselves  there 
are  so  many  differences.  The  Presbyterians  tell  the 
people  that  they  are  the  true  kind,  and  that  Congre- 
gationalists,  Methodists,  and  Baptists,  are  none  of  them 
the  true  kind.  The  Catholics,  too,  claim  to  be  the  only 
genuine  Christians,  while  they  are  not  allowed  to  be 
Christians  at  all  by  the  others."  This  is  how  the 
pagans  are  impressed  by  the  divisions  among  Chris- 
tians. How  different  all  this  before  the  "Great  Refor- 
mation," when  one  united  Church,  teaching  by  author- 
ity of  the  divine  Master,  taught  one  faith  to  all  peo- 
ples, moving  upon  the  fortifications  of  heathen  super- 
stition, as  one  grand  army  perfect  in  organization  un- 
der one  commander,  in  perfect  unity  in  every  purpose 
and  design. 

10  The  Rev.  S.  H.  Woodrow,  in  a  sermon  in  Hope 
Congregational  Church,  said :  "The  Church  of  Christ 
is  in  the  world  to  do  a  specific  work,  to  redeem  society, 
schools,  business,  politics;  all  life  is  to  feel  her  purify- 
ing touch.  How  can  she  best  do  this?  She  cannot  do 
it  by  carrying  on  a  strife  within  herself ;  she  cannot  do 
it  by  presenting  a  divided  front  to  the  enemy.  Where 

9  Public  press. 

10  Springfield,   Mass.,  Republican. 


Unity  13 

there  are  common  enemies  there  must  be  a  common 
purpose  of  union  and  aggression  if  we  are  to  win."  A 
glimmer  of  light,  but  insufficient  to  show  our  brethren 
their  mistake  in  continuing  the  chant  of  "The  Great 
Reformation's"  praise,  by  which  in  the  loss  of  Unity — 
and  with  it  necessarily  authority  in  teaching — they  have 
been  placed  in  this  condition  of  "strife  within  them- 
selves." 

The  great  success  everywhere  attending  our  divine 
Lord's  teaching,  resulting  in  the  conversion  of  great 
numbers  of  those  who  heard  him,  was  the  result  of 
an  authoritative  and  definite,  not  a  speculative,  teach- 
ing; it  was  a  teaching  that,  in  its  direct  plain  cer- 
tainty, carried  conviction  with  it  and  banished  doubt. 
If  our  Lord  taught  with  authority — and  not  as  the 
scribes — it  must  have  been  because  authority  was  nec- 
essary. If  authority  was  a  necessity  thus  early,  it  must 
be  indispensably  so  for  all  time.  Before  the  days  of 
division  all  was  clear  and  plain,  authoritative  teaching 
was  received  with  respectful  submission.  If  one  in- 
quired concerning  the  faith  he  received  one  and  the 
same  answer  everywhere;  but  now  if  one  inquire  of 
those  who  have  lost  Unity,  a  shout  of  varying  and 
discordant  answers  will  fill  the  air. 

"If  the  world  lasts  for  a  long  time,"  says  Luther 
writing  to  Zwinglius,  "it  will  be  again  necessary,  on 
account  of  the  different  interpretations  which  are  now 
given  to  the  Scriptures,  to  receive  the  decrees  of 
Councils  and  take  refuge  in  them  in  order  to  preserve 
the  unity  of  the  faith."  The  expectation  that  the 
friends  of  division  may  return  and  take  refuge  in  the 


14  Unity 

decrees  of  Catholic  Councils  is,  in  view  of  present  ten- 
dencies, but  the  wildest  of  dreams. 

If  Luther  could  have  foreseen  how  sects  were  to 
increase  and  how  "different  interpretations" — then 
scarcely  begun — were  to  be  forever  changing  until  all 
certainty  in  interpretation  of,  and  faith  in,  the  Scrip- 
tures would  be  well-nigh  lost;  even  this  bold  innova- 
tor would  have  been  dismayed  at  the  work  which,  in 
contempt  for  lawful  authority,  he  had  inaugurated  but 
the  end  of  which  he  could  not  see. 

A  distinguished  English  Divine — thanking  him  for  his 
appropriate  name  for  the  sects — has  the  following  to 
say  in  explanation  of  the  protestant  faith :  lx  "Let  us 
inquire  concerning,  not  the  truth  of  rival  churches,  but 
the  form  in  which  the  Christian  faith  can  best  be  pre- 
sented to  our  age.  Religious  men  are  face  to  face  with 
serious  issues,  and  are  burdened  with  grave  responsi- 
bilities. The  difficulties  of  belief  are  great  but  the 
consciousness  of  them  is  greater;  they  spring  not  so 
much  from  the  new  knowledge  as  the  changed  esti- 
mate and  conditions  of  life.  Men  are  so  possessed  and 
oppressed  by  the  labor  needed  to  win  the  means  of 
living,  that  they  have  not  sufficient  energy  of  mind  to 
weigh  or  to  master  the  deeper  mysteries  of  life,  and 
so  are  prepared  to  allow  either  authority  to  confirm 
their  faith  or  criticism  to  dissolve  it. 

"In  such  an  age  Catholicism  may  have  its  place,  and 
make  its  converts ;  and  it  is  to  no  purpose  of  ours 
to  take  it  from  them  or  them  from  it.  But  if  it  claims 

11  "Catholicism:  Roman  and  Anglican,"  A.  M.  Fairbairn,  M.  A.. 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  p.  203. 


Unity  15 

to  be  the  one  real,  sufficient  and  relevant  form  of  the 
Christian  religion,  then  the  truth  must  be  spoken.  Not 
in  and  through  it  is  religion  to  be  realized  in  an  age 
of  thought,  in  a  world  of  freedom,  progress,  order,  and 
activity. 

"Its  doctrine  of  authority  and  the  Church  is  a  direct 
provocation  to  skepticism ;  its  idea  of  religion  is  an  im- 
poverishment of  the  ideal  that  came  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  Faith  can  come  by  its  rights  only  as  it  ful- 
fills its  duties  to  reason.  And  the  Church  that  alone 
has  a  right  to  live,  is  the  Church  that  by  finding  in 
God  the  most  humanity,  most  fills  humanity  with  God; 
and  so  works  for  the  establishment  of  that  kingdom 
which  was  founded  by  the  Son,  and  is  governed  by 
the  Father  of  man." 

These  rythmic  flowing  sentences  contain  the  usual 
reference  complimentary  to  "the  age  of  thought,  world 
of  freedom,  progress,  etc."  Just  why  the  Catholic 
Church  is  deemed  incompetent  to  declare  the  way  of 
salvation  to  the  wonderful  people  who  live  in  this  world 
of  progress,  is  not  stated.  Our  friends  of  the  "rival 
churches,"  often  make  radical  statements  for  which  they 
forget  to  assign  reasons  or  give  proofs.  The  thought 
seems  to  be — if  we  may  brush  away  the  frosting,  and 
pluck  some  of  the  flowers  of  rhetoric — that  the  Catholic 
Church  has  some  place,  if  not  right,  in  the  world  as 
a  teacher  of  those  poor  workers  who,  after  their  daily 
toil  is  finished,  "have  not  sufficient  energy  of  mind  to 
weigh  or  to  master  the  deeper  mysteries  of  life,"  and 
so  are  fit  subjects  for  the  authority  of  the  Catholic 
Church. 


1 6  Unity 

The  learned  Doctor  has  here  sounded  a  distinctive 
note  of  protestantism.  The  Catholic  Church  if  you 
will,  for  the  poor,  the  unlearned,  and  those  of  low  de- 
gree; but  protestantism  for  the  rich,  and  those  pos- 
sessed of  the  requisite  amount  of  learning  to  master 
the  deeper  mysteries,  and  through  endless  criticism  be 
able  to  dissolve  the  faith.  Our  divine  Lord,  himself, 
despised  and  rejected  by  the  proud  Pharisees  of  learn- 
ing, was  ever  the  friend  of  the  poor  and  lowly,  but  he 
will  love  and  bless  the  rich  and  the  learned  as  well 
who,  not  exalting  themselves — for  what  God  has  given 
them — like  little  children,  are  willing  to  submit  to 
proper  authority,  and  to  be  meek  and  lowly  of  heart 
as  the  Lord  of  Glory  was. 

"The  difficulties  of  belief,"  are  not  great  in  that 
Church  which  abides  in  Unity,  but  that  they  are  great 
in  the  churches  of  division ;  their  long  continued  quest 
for  truth  which  when  seemingly  found  proves  but  a 
specter,  sufficiently  attests.  "The  changed  conditions" 
present  no  additional  difficulties  to  us,  but  it  is  under- 
standable that  such  may  be  the  case  among  the  same 
class  in  the  "rival  churches"  who,  if  they  wish  to  make 
choice  of  a  faith  intelligently,  must  necessarily  after 
their  day's  toil,  study  the  tenets  of  a  large  number  of 
faiths,  and  would  likely  find  the  difficulties  of  belief 
as  great  as  Doctor  Fairbairn  and  other  protestants 
generally  do. 

The  Catholic  Church  supplies  all  the  requirements 
of  the  protestant  Doctor,  for  that  "Church  which  alone 
has  a  right  to  live";  in  the  belief  that  Jesus  Christ  is 
true  God  and  true  man ;  and  therefore,  "finding  in  God 


Unity  17 

the  most  humanity,  most  fills  humanity  with  God." 
Divine  truth  is  one  truth,  not  many  truths,  it  must 
be  taught  in  Unity,  not  in  diversity;  in  its  nature  it 
is  as  intolerant  and  exclusive  of  all  rival  claims,  as 
that  self-evident  truth  in  mathematics  that  two  and 
two  make  four. 

That  this  one  and  undivided  Church,  ever  the  unre- 
lenting foe  of  change  and  division,  came  down  to  us 
from  apostolic  times,  all  non-partisan  history  shows ; 
and  the  utter  failure  of  our  adversaries  to  establish  a 
date  for  its  origin  other  than  that,  dispenses  us  from 
further  proof. 

That  protestantism,  with  its  loss  of  Unity  and  au- 
thority and  its  fallible  interpretation  of  an  infallible 
book,  is  a  "direct  provocation  to  skepticism,"  the  num- 
ber that  in  the  "rival  churches"  yearly  join  the  army 
of  the  indifferent — or  go  to  swell  the  ranks  of  Mrs. 
Eddy's  followers,  abundantly  shows. 

12  "We  ask,"  says  Doctor  Balmes,  "those  who  see  in 
catholicity  only  one  of  the  innumerable  sects  by  which 
the  earth  has  been  covered,  to  point  out  elsewhere  a 
similar  fact;  to  explain  how  the  Church  has  been  able 
to  show  us  a  phenomenon,  constantly  existing,  so  op- 
posed to  the  ever-varying  spirit  of  the  human  mind; 
let  them  tell  us  by  what  secret  talisman  the  Sovereign 
Pontiffs  have  been  able  to  do  what  other  men  have 
found  impossible.  Those  men  who  have  laid  aside  their 
own  opinions  to  adopt  those  of  a  man  called  the  Pope, 
were  not  simple  and  ignorant  men.  They  are  the  same 

12  "European  Civilization,"  J.  Balmes. 


i8  Unity 

men  who  have  filled  the  highest  places  in  Europe,  whose 
names  have  been  handed  down  to  future  generations. 

"Examine  the  history  of  all  ages,  and  if  you  find 
anywhere  such  an  extraordinary  combination  of  knowl- 
edge in  union  with  faith,  of  genius  in  submission  to 
authority,  and  of  discussion  without  breach  of  unity, 
you  will  have  made  an  important  discovery,  a  new 
phenomenon.  Impartial  reason  must  draw  from  it  the 
conclusion  that  there  is  in  the  Catholic  Church  some- 
thing which  is  not  to  be  found  elsewhere. 

"These  facts,  say  our  adversaries,  are  certain.  This 
phenomenon,  realized  in  the  Catholic  Church,  only  proves 
the  existence  of  a  fixed  system.  The  Church  knew  that 
union  is  the  source  of  strength;  that  union  cannot  exist 
without  unity  of  doctrine;  and  that  unity  of  doctrine 
cannot  be  preserved  without  submission  to  authority. 
The  principle  of  submission,  such  is  the  explanation  of 
the  phenomenon.  The  scheme  is  grand,  the  system 
extraordinary,  but  they  do  not  prove  the  divine  origin 
of  Catholicism. 

"This  is  the  best  reply  which  they  can  make;  it  is 
easy  to  show  that  the  difficulty  remains.  Indeed,  if 
there  has  been  for  eighteen  centuries  a  society  which 
has  known  how  to  bind  to  this  principle  eminent  men 
of  all  ages  and  countries,  the  following  questions  must 
be  asked :  Why  has  the  Catholic  Church  alone  pos- 
sessed this  principle,  and  monopolized  this  idea?  If 
the  sects  have  been  in  possession  of  it,  why  have  they 
not  acted  upon  it?  It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  there 
was  a  plan — a  system ;  the  difficulty  lies  in  the  exist- 


Unity  19 

ence  of  this  plan  and  this  system ;  it  consists  in  ex- 
plaining how  they  were  conceived  and  executed. 

"If  we  had  to  do  with  a  small  number  of  men,  in 
limited  circumstances,  times,  and  countries,  for  the 
execution  of  a  limited  project,  there  would  be  nothing 
extraordinary;  but  we  have  to  do  with  a  period  of 
eighteen  hundred  years,  with  all  the  countries  of  the 
world,  with  circumstances  the  most  varied  and  the 
most  opposed  to  each  other ;  we  have  to  do  with  a 
multitude  of  men  who  did  not  meet  together,  or  act 
in  concert.  How  is  all  this  to  be  explained  if  it  were 
a  plan  and  a  system  devised  by  man? 

"What  was  the  mysterious  power  of  Rome  which  en- 
abled her  to  unite  around  her  so  many  illustrious  men 
of  all  times  and  of  all  countries?  How  did  the  Roman 
Pontiff,  if  he  be  only  the  chief  of  a  sect,  manage  to 
fascinate  the  world  to  this  extent?  What  magician 
ever  did  such  wonders?  Men  have  long  declaimed 
against  his  religious  despotism ;  why  has  no  one  been 
found  to  wrest  the  scepter  from  his  grasp?  Why  has 
not  a  pontifical  throne  been  raised  capable  of  disputing 
the  pre-eminence  with  his,  and  of  maintaining  itself 
with  equal  splendor  and  power?  Shall  we  attribute  it 
to  the  knowledge  or  the  virtues  of  the  men  who  have 
occupied  the  Papal  throne?  There  has  been  in  eight- 
een hundred  years  and  more  an  infinite  variety  in 
the  talents  and  virtues  of  the  Popes. 

"For  those  who  do  not  see  in  the  Pontiff  the  vicar 
of  Christ — the  rock  on  which  he  has  built  his  Church — 
the  duration  of  this  authority  must  be  the  most  ex- 
traordinary phenomenon;  how  there  existed  for  cen- 


2O  Unity 

turies  a  series  of  learned  men  faithful  to  the  Roman 
See." 

The  protestant  divine  George  F.  Candlin,  in  a  paper 
on  Religious  Unity,  read  at  the  Parliament  of  Relig- 
ions, says:  "Surely  one  of  the  lessons  God  is  loudly 
teaching  us,  is  that  to  have  larger  measures  of  success 
we  must  have  increased  Christian  unity.  In  the  family, 
in  business,  in  the  management  of  the  state,  we  do 
not  hesitate  to  recognize  the  principle  that  domestic 
harmony  and  outward  prosperity  are  linked  inseparably 
to  each  other.  Can  we  imagine  then  that  in  religion 
alone,  which  ought  to  be  its  grandest  expression,  the 
law  is  relaxed?  Is  a  religion  universal  in  its  empire, 
but  disordered  and  disparate  in  its  fellowship  so  much 
as  conceivable?" 

In  God's  economy  this  condition  is  not  conceivable, 
it  was  only  in  an  attempt  by  protestants  to  improve 
upon  God's  economy,  that  this  state  of  things  became 
an  accomplished  fact.  It  was  undeniably  the  purpose 
of  our  divine  Lord,  that  his  children  should  dwell  to- 
gether in  Unity.  Recall  how  feelingly  our  Lord  sup- 
plicated the  Father  for  the  Unity  of  his  Church,  there 
on  the  banks  of  the  Cedron  with  the  loom  of  the  Cross 
before  him. 

13  "And  not  for  them  only  (the  Apostles),  do  I  pray, 
but  for  them  also  who  through  their  word  shall  believe 
in  me:  that  they  all  may  be  one,  as  thou,  Father  in 
me,  and  I  in  Thee,  that  they  also  may  be  one  in  us ; 
that  the  world  may  believe  that  thou  hast  sent  me. 

33  Gospel   John   xvii,    20-23. 


Unity  21 

And  the  glory  which  thou  hast  given  me,  I  have  given 
them;  that  they  may  be  one,  as  we  also  are  one." 

Here  the  conversion  of  the  world  is  made  dependent 
upon  the  Unity  of  the  Church.  That  our  Bible  reading 
friends  can  see  their  position  condemned,  as  it  is  in 
this  Gospel,  and  fail  to  realize  the  responsibility  that 
rests  upon  them  for  this  state  of  things,  is  a  wonder. 
There  are,  of  course,  sporadic  signs  that  might  presage 
the  coming  of  the  dawn.  The  little  bird — from  the  Par- 
liament of  Religions — only  partially  awake  on  his  blos- 
som twig,  surprises  his  mates  and  astonishes  himself, 
by  sounding  a  catholic  note  in  praise  of  Unity.  And 
in  the  excerpt  that  follows  is  seen  a  well  defined  streak 
of  light  in  the  east.  Hear  the  Anglican  Bishop  of  St. 
Andrews : 

"Try  to  imagine  some  of  the  thoughts  of  our  divine 
Lord,  who  has  proved  his  love  for  us  by  the  agony  and 
the  bloody  sweat  of  the  cross  and  passion  of  Calvary. 
How  does  it  all  seem  to  him?  Surely  he  must  recog- 
nize the  waste  of  power  which  our  separation  involves. 
Surely  he  must  see  that  if  the  separate  gifts  which  he 
has  bestowed  upon  each  separate  member  of  his  body 
are  not  used  for  the  good  of  the  whole  body,  then  the 
whole  body  must  suffer  through  the  loss  of  that  which 
every  member  should  supply.  Surely  our  Lord  must 
see  that  one  of  the  guiding  principles  of  that  master 
spirit  of  evil,  is,  To  divide  and  conquer." 

It  is  morally  certain  that,  in  the  divisions  of  Chris- 
tians, justification  is  sought  by  the  many  for  whatever 
dereliction  of  duty  they  may  be  rightly  charged  with. 


22  Unity 

St.  Cyprian  in  his  twenty-third  sermon  says:  "There 
is  one  God  and  one  Christ,  and  his  Church  is  one,  and 
one  the  people  joined  together  in  the  solid  unity  of  the 
body  in  the  bond  of  concord.  This  unity  cannot  be 
broken  nor  the  one  body  be  divided  by  the  separation 
of  its  constituent  parts." 

What  a  beautiful  illustration  of  Unity  is  found  in  the 
Gospel.  14  "And  there  shall  be  one  fold  and  one  shep- 
herd." Should  one  sheep  leave  the  pasture,  the  others 
if  possible  will  follow,  owing  to  their  dread  of  a  separa- 
tion from  each  other.  Our  Lord  intended  that  the 
sheep  of  his  fold  should  remain  in  Unity  under  one 
shepherd,  all  fed  with  the  same  sacraments  and  nour- 
ished with  the  bread  of  life  which  is  his  body  and  his 
blood. 

The  Church  in  the  Gospel  is  likened  to  a  kingdom. 
15  "And  of  his  kingdom  there  shall  be  no  end."  16  Jesus 
said  to  the  obstinate  Jews:  "The  kingdom  of  God  shall 
be  taken  from  you,  and  shall  be  given  to  a  nation  yield- 
ing the  fruits  thereof."  17  "For  as  in  one  body  we  have 
many  members,  but  all  the  members  have  not  the  same 
office:  so  we,  being  many,  are  one  body  in  Christ,  and 
every  one  members  one  of  another."  18  "For  as  the  body 
is  one  and  hath  many  members :  and  all  the  members 
of  the  body,  whereas  they  are  many,  yet  are  one  body: 
so  also  is  Christ.  For  in  one  Spirit  were  we  all  baptized 
into  one  body,  whether  Jews  or  Gentiles,  whether  bond 

14  John  x,   16. 

is  Luke  I,  33. 

IG  Matth.   xxi,    43. 

17  Rom.    xii,    4-5. 

is  1    Cor.    xii,    12,    13,    20. 


Unity  23 

or  free  .  .  .  now  there  are  many  members  indeed, 
yet  one  body."  St.  Paul  writing  to  the  Corinthians 
says :  19  "Now  I  beseech  you,  brethren,  by  the  name  of 
our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  you  all  speak  the  same 
thing,  and  that  there  be  no  schisms  among  you." 

These  few  texts,  from  the  Scriptures,  need  no  ex- 
planation. They  show  plainly,  to  those  who  wish  to 
see,  that  the  division  of  the  Church  into  numberless 
sects  was  no  part  of  God's  plan.  The  protestant  prin- 
ciple of  division  finds  no  recognition  in  the  Scriptures, 
but,  as  in  the  above  excerpts,  finds  its  sure  condemna- 
tion. The  writings  of  the  early  Christian  Fathers  are 
but  the  echo  of  this  Scriptural  condemnation;  the 
wrong,  the  great  loss  in  Christian  influence,  and  the 
scandal  of  indifferentism  that  results  from  this  exhibi- 
tion of  human  pride  in  sect  building,  are  apparent  to  all. 

Protestants  feel  the  loss  of  Unity  and  know  that  they 
are  in  the  wrong,  their  Bibles  plainly  tell  them  so,  but 
as  they  never  can  finish  their  hosannas  over  "The  Great 
Reformation"  that  was  the  destroyer  of  Unity,  they 
continue  to  look  up  and  press  forward,  always  search- 
ing for  the  lost  treasure  where  it  is  not  to  be  found. 

If  those  desiring  to  go  east,  by  some  mischance  go 
west  instead,  upon  finding  their  mistake  it  would  save 
weary  days  of  travel  to  turn  back,  rather  than  press  on. 
In  their  search  for  Unity  our  friends  are  ever  moving 
further  away  from  the  source  of  Unity.  The  pride  of 
their  hearts  forbids  them  to  acknowledge  that  "The 
Great  Reformation"  was  a  great  mistake,  an  egregious 

19  1  Cor.  i,  10. 


24  Unity 

wrong;  so  they  preach  federation,  or  they  try  to 
20  shave  the  corners  off  conflicting  creeds  and  paste 
the  residue  together,  in  the  vain  hope  that  Unity  may 
be  obtained. 

Turn  back  then,  brethren,  to  where  in  the  sixteenth 
century  in  the  pride  of  their  hearts,  your  and  my 
fathers,  made  the  sad  mistake  of  destroying  Christian 
Unity.  Turn  back  to  where  they  rent  asunder  the 
seamless  robe  of  Christ,  that  emblem  of  Unity  which 
even  the  rude  soldiers  on  Calvary's  height  did  not  di- 
vide. Turn  back  to  the  truth  you  have  vainly  sought 
while  going  from  it.  There  can  be  no  difference  be- 
tween truth  in  the  sixteenth  and  truth  in  the  twentieth 
century,  for  truth  "takes  no  note  of  time/'  Truth  is 
an  emanation  from  God,  and  partakes  of  his  immuta- 
bility and  is,  therefore,  the  same  yesterday,  to-day  and 
forever,  it  knows  no  change  nor  reformation. 

A  super  civilization  cries  "back  to  the  land,"  back  to 
nature,  the  glebe,  the  furrow;  better  still  is  a  return 
to  first  principles,  early  teachings,  the  original  faith. 
Fear  not  then  to  turn  back  when  on  the  wrong  road, 
for  the  rugged  stony  path  of  penance  will  lead  to  truth 
and  Unity;  to  victory  through  humility;  to  well-earned 
peace.  The  "rival  churches"  in  their  restlessness  are 
searching  for  something  new,  that  which  satisfies  to-day, 
to-morrow  will  be  old.  They  seek  a  religion  "suited 
to  the  times";  their  creed,  now  old-fashioned,  must  be 
"restated  along  the  lines  of  modern  thought."  Instead 
of  bringing  the  times  into  accord  with  the  Gospel,  the 

20  Rev.  Thomas  Cox. 


Unity  25 

Gospel  must  be  explained  in  a  way  to  reflect  the  worldly 
spirit  of  the  times. 

If  our  friends  were  ever  in  possession  of  the  true 
faith,  for  what  are  they  now  looking,  and  why  does 
Doctor  Fairbairn  say  that  "religious  men  are  face  to 
face  with  serious  issues  and  are  burdened  with  grave 
responsibilities,  and  the  difficulties  of  belief  great,  etc.?" 
What  are  these  serious  issues,  these  burdens,  these 
grave  responsibilities?  Is  it  that  the  doctrines  of  Chris- 
tianity, now  nearly  two  thousand  years  old,  are  not 
sufficiently  understood  by  the  protestant  Doctor  and 
his  coreligionists,  as  to  make  belief  in  them  reasonably 
easy?  Or  are  they  so  oppressed  with  the  weight  of 
responsibility  in  determining  which  one  of  the  four 
hundred  "rival  churches"  can  at  this  late  day  best  begin 
the  evangelization  of  the  world? 

Protestants,  both  in  and  out  of  the  pulpit,  give  evi- 
dence of  this  spirit  of  disquietude,  they  are  ill  at  ease, 
continually  shifting  and  changing.  21  "I  see,"  says 
Theodore  Beza,  "our  people  wander  at  the  mercy  of 
every  wind  of  doctrine,  and  after  having  been  raised 
up,  fall  sometimes  on  one  side  and  sometimes  on  the 
other.  What  they  will  think  of  religion  to-day  you 
may  know;  what  they  will  think  of  it  to-morrow  you 
cannot  affirm.  On  what  point  of  religion  are  the 
Churches  which  have  declared  war  against  the  Pope 
agreed?  Examine  all  from  beginning  to  end,  you  will 
hardly  find  one  thing  affirmed  by  the  one  which  the 
other  does  not  directly  cry  out  against  as  impiety." 

21  Th.    Beza    "Epist.    ad   Andream    Dudit." 
4 


26  Unity 

In  this  plaint  of  the  Theologian  of  Geneva,  we  have 
a  tribute  to  the  efficacy  of  "The  Great  Reformation"  in 
the  hopeless  muddling  of  men's  minds  at  the  very  be- 
ginning of  the  departure  from  Unity.  It  is  likely  that 
if  this  "reformer"  could  have  taken  but  one  glance 
down  the  gloomy  vista  of  the  centuries  of  division  to 
the  time  of  Doctor  Fairbairn,  he  would  have  confessed 
that  his  own  woes  were  but  a  feather's  weight  in  com- 
parison. 

The  slight  fissure  made  in  the  banks  of  the  swollen 
and  impetuous  torrent  ever  increases  in  size  with  the 
strong  current's  wash,  resulting  finally  in  widespread 
devastation. 

In  a  degree  far  too  slight  considering  its  importance, 
attention  has  been  called  in  another  place  to  the  diffi- 
culties of  belief  occasioned  by  the  teaching  of  many  and 
contradictory  opinions  in  place  of  one  true  faith.  Let 
us  direct  our  attention  to  the  obstacles  presented  to 
the  mind  of  the  inquirer  after  truth,  more  especially 
the  poor  and  those  of  limited  education.  The  poor  are 
mostly  occupied  with  the  labor  necessary  for  their  live- 
lihood. To  whom  are  they  to  apply  to  learn  the  way 
of  salvation?  Can  they  decide  which  among  the 
"rival  churches"  is  best  qualified  to  teach  the  truth, 
without  examining  at  great  length  the  claims  of  all 
these  would-be  teachers?  This  alone,  when  we  con- 
sider how  little  time,  outside  of  work  and  necessary  rest, 
the  toilers  have  at  their  disposal,  would  prove  a  barrier 
in  most  cases. 

But  supposing  all  had  the  time,  have  they  the  learn- 
ing necessary  to  decide  the  knotty  points  and  problems 


Unity  27 

of  faith,  which  the  learned  in  the  "rival  churches"  have 
never  been  able  to  agree  upon,  and  which  have  caused 
the  eminent  Doctor  Fairbairn  to  declare  that,  "the  diffi- 
culties of  belief  are  great"?  How  are  these  people, 
without  time  to  study  and  think,  or  very  much  learning 
to  assist  them,  to  ever  find  the  truth?  Would  it  not 
be  a  thought  worthy  of  God,  to  provide  for  these  poor 
souls,  a  church  that  could  teach  them  with  divine 
authority  the  one  true  faith?  Would  it  not  be  better 
in  such  case — and  in  case  of  the  learned  as  well — that 
"authority  should  confirm,  rather  than  criticism  dis- 
solve"? 

What  advantage  can  be  found  in  a  teaching  that  is 
not  conclusive  it  is  hard  to  imagine.  If  our  friends 
desired  instruction  in  any  of  the  arts  or  sciences,  they 
would  employ  only  such  teachers  as  could  give  the 
desired  instruction  with  certainty,  and  would  be  in- 
tolerant and  impatient  with  all  incompetents.  But  have 
any  among  the  protestant  churches  claimed  the  ability 
to  teach  the  Christian  faith  in  its  entirety  with  cer- 
tainty? Certainly  not.  Our  friends  have  never  sev- 
erally or  collectively,  professed  their  ability  to  answer 
decisively  the  all  important  question:  What  is  truth? 
And  yet  every  child  of  Adam  has  a  native  inborn  right 
to  know  the  answer.  Brought  into  this  world  by  a 
most  wise  Creator,  we  have  a  right  to  know  the  secret 
of  our  destination,  and  the  road  leading  to  it.  Our 
divine  Lord  recognized  this  right  when  he  founded  one 
true  Church  to  be  our  sure  and  certain  guide. 

If  a  number  of  people,  disagreeing  among  them- 
selves, essay  to  direct  the  traveler  on  his  way,  confu- 


28  Unity 

* 

sion  will  likely  result  and  the  traveler  fail  to  reach  his 
destination.  There  must  be  a  sure  guide  to  truth;  that 
protestants  are  strangers  to  this  guide  their  many  and 
varied  conjectures,  without  agreement,  plainly  show, 
and  they  give  the  impression  that  truth — as  a  feudal 
baron  in  his  beleagured  castle — is  being  kept  from  those 
desiring  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  it.  Doubt,  re- 
garding the  truth,  is  the  most  cheerless  as  well  as 
unnecessary  of  companions.  It  was  never  intended  by 
God,  that  his  creatures  should  be  in  doubt  concerning 
the  way  of  salvation. 

Suppose,  if  you  will,  that  some  searchers  after  truth 
have  thought  to  cast  in  their  lot  with  some  one  of  the 
"rival  churches."  They  will  be  told  by  no  less  an  au- 
thority than  the  Rev.  President  of  Amherst  College, 
that  "in  former  times  the  Church  was  looked  upon  as 
the  indispensable  means  of  salvation,"  but  with  increased 
scientific  knowledge  "there  has  been  an  imperceptible 
but  sure  change  of  sentiment." 

We  may  imagine  the  intending  members  as  saying: 
"Was  the  Church  right  in  'former  times'  when  they 
taught  that  a  church  and  sacraments  were  necessary, 
or  are  they  right  now  when  they  teach  that  they  are 
not?  If  all  the  churches  are  right,  and  yet  all  teach 
differently;  if  all  churches  admit  their  inability  to 
teach  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the 
truth,  and  further,  that  to  belong  to  any  one  of  them 
is  not  necessary  to  salvation;  then  let  us  take  our 
chances  with  the  large  and  respectable  number  on  the 
outside,  trusting  'that  all  will  come  out  right  in  the 
end.' "  Considering  the  circumstances,  is  not  this  a 


Unity  29 

perfectly  sane  conclusion  for  them  to  come  to?  Is  it 
not  the  conclusion  that  the  multitude  are  coming  to 
in  the  present  century,  and  is  it  not  directly  traceable 
to  the  loss  of  unity  and  authority  in  religious  teach- 
ing? But  one  answer  can  be  returned;  the  analogy 
between  cause  and  effect  was  never  so  easy  to  trace, 
so  thoroughly  and  overwhelmingly  conclusive  as  here. 

Let  those  who  went  out  from  us,  thereby  breaking 
the  precious  bond  of  Unity,  return  again  to  their  home, 
and  Christian  Unity  will  result.  It  is  but  fair  that 
those  who  broke  the  bond,  should  repair  the  injury. 
We  had  fifteen  centuries  of  Christian  Unity,  before  the 
"Great  Mistake  of  the  Great  Reformation"  came  to 
destroy  it,  bringing  strife  and  discord,  where  before 
had  been  peace  and  harmony. 

Were  such  a  thing  possible,  and  we  should  essay  to 
go  to  the  "rival  churches,"  there  would  be  no  result 
other  than  an  increase  of  the  malady;  confusion  worse 
confounded.  Let  our  kind  but  mistaken  adversaries, 
with  that  humility  so  pleasing  in  all  God's  children, 
give  up  the  thought  of  Unity  accomplished  in  any 
other  way  than  by  a  return  to  the  home  of  Unity  where, 
in  the  cessation  of  strife  and  discord,  of  which  they 
and  the  world  as  well  are  weary,  in  the  possession  of 
a  sure  and  certain  faith  that  will  not  change  on  the 
morrow,  they  will  find  lasting  peace,  as  weather-beaten 
storm-tossed  ships  from  off  the  main  swing  at  their 
anchor  chains,  at  rest  in  a  quiet  and  safe  harbor. 

The  twin  sisters,  division  and  doubt,  are  fruits  of 
the  so-called  "Great  Reformation,"  and  doubt  is  the 
badge  which  all  protestants  wear  from  the  cradle  to 


30  Unity 

the  grave;  and  they  will  never  realize  how  much  di- 
vision and  doubt  have  made  them  suffer,  until  coming 
out  from  this  darkness  into  the  clear  noonday  light 
of  a  faith  that  can  banish  doubt,  a  faith  taught  with 
authority  by  a  church  in  Unity,  behold  their  doubts 
and  perplexities  dissolve  and  vanish,  as  morning  mists 
from  mountain  top  and  quiet  valley,  at  the  coming  of 
a  new  and  brighter  day. 


CHAPTER  II. 
INFALLIBILITY. 

In  the  foregoing  pages  it  has  been  shown  that  unity 
is  an  indispensable  prerogative  of  the  Church,  not  only 
from  the  Scriptures  and  the  writings  of  the  first  pro- 
fessors of  the  faith ;  but  also  from  its  agreement  with 
reason.  The  Infallibility  of  the  Church,  is  of  like  im- 
portance; without  which  it  would  be  impossible  to 
preserve  the  true  faith,  owing  to  the  vacillating  ten- 
dencies of  the  human  mind,  as  exemplified  in  the 
changes  continually  going  on  among  the  sects  who  dis- 
card this  doctrine. 

Infallibility  is  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost  prom- 
ised in  the  Gospel  to  keep  the  Church  in  "all  truth," 
and  is  claimed  as  a  dogma,  by  the  Catholic  Church 
alone.  Should  a  sect  be  so  forgetful  of  its  rightful 
position  among  sects  as  to  advance  a  claim  to  all  truth, 
it  would  mean  the  breaking  of  that  existing  bond,  which 
requires  that  the  sum  total  of  truth  possessed  by  all 
should  be  so  divided  that  each  may  have  a  share,  but 
none  a  monopoly;  otherwise,  Infallibility — to  them  the 
saddest  of  accidents — would  result  to  the  one,  and  with 
that  result  necessarily  accomplish  the  destruction  of 
the  others. 

As  a  means  of  self-preservation  then,  protestants  are 
obliged  to  oppose  Infallibility,  and  endeavor  to  maintain 
that  a  number  of  instructors  each  differing  in  many 


22  Infallibility 

respects  as  to  the  doctrine  taught,  so  that  no  one  of 
them  being  entirely  right,  yet  no  one  of  them  entirely 
wrong,  are  superior  to  one  voice  teaching  always  and 
in  all  places,  one  doctrine  and  one  faith. 

Our  opponents  aver  that  it  is  the  acme  of  priestly 
arrogance,  for  a  Church  composed  of  fallen  humanity, 
to  lay  claim  to  one  of  the  attributes  of  Deity.  *  "As 
well,"  say  they,  "might  a  man  claim  to  be  immortal  in 
his  body  as  infallible  in  his  mind."  It  should  be  re- 
membered however  that  while  Infallibility  primarily  re- 
sides with  and  is  an  attribute  of  the  Deity,  yet  he  has 
been  pleased  to  reveal  to  us  through  nature  and  the 
physical  sciences  many  infallible  truths  for  the  benefit 
of  man. 

By  the  laws  governing  the  movements  of  the  earth 
and  the  heavenly  bodies,  the  exact  time  when  the  sun 
for  a  brief  period  will  fail  to  give  his  customary  light; 
or,  when  by  the  season's  changes  stern  winter  will  de- 
part, and  under  softer  skies  birds  will  sing  and  wild 
flowers  deck  the  hills  and  vales  in  beauty;  are  infallibly 
known  to  us.  In  such  a  month  the  rose  will  bloom,  the 
cherry  and 'the  plum  will  set  their  fruit,  the  standing 
grain  be  ready  for  the  reaper.  Man,  and  the  lower 
animals  as  well,  have  a  natural  infallibility  as  evinced 
in  numerous  instances.  Even  the  birds  know  with  in- 
fallible certainty  the  day  of  their  assembling  for  their 
semi-annual  flight  to  other  climes. 

The  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  are  practically 
infallible.  In  the  very  nature  of  all  governments  or 

i  Jevous   "Lessons   in  Logic,"   Vol.   1,  p.   8. 


Infallibility  33 

social  institutions,  such  is  the  absolute  necessity  for  in- 
fallibility of  some  sort  to  reside  in  some  one  of  these 
tribunals  that,  when  actual  infallibility  cannot  be  con- 
ferred, judicial  infallibility  is  given  as  a  substitute. 
Hence,  the  framers  of  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States,  knowing  that  it  was  practically  useless  to  have 
courts  of  justice,  unless  their  decisions  would  be  made 
final,  at  least  in  one  or  other  of  them,  bestowed  on  the 
Supreme  Court  what  is  called  in  legal  terms  judicial 
infallibility,  from  which  there  could  be  no  appeal.  As 
some  sort  of  infallibility  was  indispensable,  and  they 
had  no  power  to  bestow  any  other,  by  determining  that 
the  decisions  of  such  a  Supreme  Tribunal  were  to  be 
held  as  practically  infallible,  and  therefore  final,  they 
did  the  very  best  they  could  for  the  peace  and  welfare 
of  our  Republic.  On  this  account  its  decisions,  what- 
ever they  be,  cannot  be  questioned  or  reversed  by  any 
State  authority  and  must  be  considered  as  final,  even 
though,  in  some  cases,  they  might  be  erroneous  or 
incorrect.  It  is  a  much  less  evil  to  submit  to  an 
occasionally  incorrect  decision  than  to  have  interminable 
disputes  so  detrimental  to  public  tranquillity  and  peace. 
It  is  not  in  the  power  of  any  man  to  confer  actual 
or  real  infallibility  or  absolute  exemption  from  error. 
This,  which  God  alone  can  do,  for  He  naturally  pos- 
sesses it,  was  bestowed  by  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  on 
his  Church  and  on  his  Vicar  upon  earth,  St.  Peter  and 
his  successors,  for  the  safe  guidance  of  men  in  the 
knowledge  of  truth  and  the  attainment  of  their  last 
end.  As  Almighty  Gocl  established  upon  earth  such  a 
tribunal,  as  a  necessary,  and  indispensable  means  of 


34  Infallibility 

religious  unity,  could  he  give  it  mere  judicial  infalli- 
bility? Could  he  make  it  as  defective  as  a  mere  human 
institution,  while  he  possessed  the  power  to  make  it 
perfect  and  unerring?  What  human  reason  demands, 
we  know,  as  an  article  of  divine  faith,  has  been  actually 
done  by  our  most  wise  and  provident  Creator  to  secure 
religious  unity  and  peace.  One  of  the  absurd  conse- 
quences, that  would  inevitably  follow,  if  only  judicial 
infallibility  had  been  granted  to  the  Church  and  its 
head,  is  that  we  should  then  be  bound,  under  pain  of 
mortal  sin,  to  believe  as  true  revelation  what  might  be 
an  erroneous  one. 

See  Burnett,  "The  Path  Which  Led  a  Protestant 
Lawyer  to  the  Catholic  Church,"  pp.  117-118. 

The  results  following  the  correct  use  of  arithmetical 
numbers  are  also  infallible.  The  sudden  fall  of  the 
barometer  infallibly  presages  the  coming  storm.  By 
an  infallible  compass,  the  mariner  shapes  his  course 
across  the  vast  expanse  of  sea  beset  by  varying  winds 
and  treacherous  currents,  in  storms  and  darkness,  and 
in  impenetrable  ocean  fogs;  at  last  finds  entrance  and 
safe  anchorage  in  the  harbor  of  his  destination. 

Seeing  then,  so  many  instances  of  Infallibility  in 
everything  around  us,  there  can  be  no  violence  done 
to  reason  in  the  supposition  that  God  in  His  infinite 
wisdom,  who  gave  so  valuable  a  privilege  in  natural 
science,  would  not  withhold  it  from  us  in  that  more 
important  science  pertaining  to  supernatural  things  and 
thus  leave  His  children  without  compass  or  guide.  But 
Infallibility  was  in  no  way  dependent  upon  the  infalli- 
ble in  nature,  for  above  and  beyond  all  these  was  given 


Infallibility  35 

the  Infallible  Church,  preserved  from  error  through 
the  perpetual  indwelling  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  when 
the  Infallible  Bible  should  be  completed,  would  be  the 
one  and  only  competent  guide  and  rightful  explainer 
of  its  truths. 

Concerning  the  ill  effects  resulting  from  the  rejec- 
tion of  Infallibility  in  teaching  a  supernatural  religion 
Cardinal  Manning  says:  "We  behold  on  every  side  a 
restless,  turbulent  swaying  to  and  fro  of  minds,  like 
the  waves  of  the  sea.  From  every  part  we  hear  one 
cry:  What  is  truth?  Where  is  it  to  be  found?  By 
what  test  can  it  be  known?  Is  there  nowhere  any 
certainty  about  doctrines,  about  revelation,  about  Scrip- 
ture, about  Christianity,  about  the  distinctions  of  right 
and  wrong,  about  the  freedom  of  the  will,  about  the 
nature  of  the  soul,  about  the  existence  of  God? 

"The  whole  idea  of  certainty  is  obscured,  the  princi- 
ple of  certainty  is  rejected,  the  possibility  of  certainty  is 
denied."  So  our  adversaries  are  at  last  sure  of  only 
one  thing,  which  is,  that  concerning  an  article  of  the 
faith,  it  is  very,  very  wrong  to  know  that  you  are 
right. 

Mr.  E.  Hamlin  Abbot,  writing  upon  this  condition  of 
things  in  New  England,  says :  "The  reaction  against 
religious  life  and  observance  is  accompanied  by  a  loose- 
ness of  thinking  and  a  flabbiness  of  mind  ...  oc- 
casioned by  the  loss  of  distinctness  in  ideas  that  is 
suffered  whenever  men  replace  narrow  conceptions  with 
broader  ones." 

2  Outlook,    Nov.   8,    1902. 


36  Infallibility 

What  a  charming  fascination,  for  protestants,  in  the 
words  broad,  and  reform,  and  yet  it  is  difficult  to  say 
which  of  these  good  words  has  been  oftenest  seen  in 
bad  company.  Mr.  Abbot  continues:  "If  there  is 
likely  to  be  under  present  theological  conditions  a 
revival  of  genuine  religious  belief  in  New  England, 
there  must  be  an  intelligent  and  deliberate  effort  im- 
pelled by  enthusiasm,  to  adjust  the  work  of  the 
Churches  to  the  changed  social  environment  and  intel- 
lectual temper."  This  will  be  easily  accomplished.  Ad- 
just the  churches  to  the  people,  and  the  difficulty  will 
be  removed  at  once,  and  true  religion  again  be  in  the 
ascendant ! 

The  attitude  of  protestants  towards  Infallibility  in 
religion  and  their  efforts  to  derive  comfort  from  the 
thought  that  truth  is  one  of  the  unattainables  in  this 
world,  and  that  however  diligent  we  may  be  in  its 
pursuit  it  can  never  be  overtaken — is  superlatively 
pathetic. 

And  why  should  we  not  have  an  Infallible  Church, 
is  it  not  better  than  a  fallible  one?  Is  perfect  cer- 
tainty in  religion  in  anywise  objectionable?  If  we  enter 
a  strange  city  and  procure  a  guide,  do  we  not  want  one 
that  knows  the  way?  In  any  court  of  law,  the  truth, 
the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  is  required. 
In  those  things  which  concern  our  eternal  welfare  can 
we  be  less  particular  than  when  in  court?  No;  we 
must  have  the  truth  in  its  entirety,  it  being  impossible 
to  make  an  act  of  faith  upon  a  subject-matter  in  regard 
to  the  truth  of  which  we  are  in  doubt,  and  without 
faith  it  is  impossible  to  please  God. 


Infallibility  37 

The  doctrines  taught  by  our  Lord  and  His  apostles 
must  from  their  divine  origin  have  been  infallibly  true. 
The  Christian  Church,  the  only  teaching  body  in  exist- 
ence, naturally  attracted  universal  attention  among  those 
who  for  the  first  time  heard  the  words  of  infallible 
truth  from  lips  divine,  and  saw  the  ordinary  laws  of 
nature  suspended  in  the  stilling  of  the  tempest's  fury, 
and  the  raising  of  the  dead  to  life. 

The  Infallibility  of  the  Church  is  proven  not  only 
by  her  divine  origin,  but  by  her  perpetuity,  by  which 
she  has  been  through  the  ages  of  Christianity,  the  most 
patent  of  all  historical  facts,  and  the  records  of  whose 
achievements  were  they  to  be  eliminated  from  the 
world's  annals,  would  leave  history  a  compilation  of 
unintelligible  fragments. 

In  addition  to  these  considerations,  we  find  in  the 
New  Testament,  at  its  completion,  the  exact  corrobora- 
tive evidence  for  which  we  should  look;  for,  how  could 
a  church  be  called  3  "the  pillar  and  ground  of  the 
truth,"  if  by  any  possibility  it  could  teach  error? 

4  "When    you   had   received   of   us,"    said   the   Apostle, 
"the  word  of  the  hearing  of  God,  you  received  it  not 
as  the  word  of  man  but — as  it  is  indeed — the  word  of 
God."     The   teaching  of   the   Apostle  then   must  have 
been   infallible. 

The   Apostles    claimed    Infallibility.      St.    Paul    says: 

5  "We  have  the  mind  of  Christ."     6  "We  have  received 
.     .     .     the  spirit  which  is  of  God:  that  we  may  know 

3  1  Tim.   iii,   15. 

4  Thess.   ii,   13. 

5  1  Cor.   ii,   16. 

6  1   Cor.   ii,   12-13. 


38  Infallibility 

the  things  that  are  given  us  from  God.  Which  things 
also  we  speak,  not  in  the  learned  words  of  human  wis- 
dom; but  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Spirit."  And  again 
the  same  Apostle :  7  "For  our  exhortation  was  not  of 
error."  8  "Therefore  he  that  despiseth  these  things  de- 
spiseth  not  man  but  God."  If  the  Father  sent  the 
Son  into  the  world,  it  was  to  teach  the  truth.  If  the 
Son  sent  the  Apostles  into  the  world  as  the  Father 
had  sent  him,  it  was  to  teach  the  same  truth,  and  their 
teaching  was  therefore  infallible. 

When  our  Lord  sent  his  Apostles  to  preach  his 
Gospel,  he  said  to  them :  9  "He  that  heareth  you, 
heareth  me."  If  our  Lord  sent  out  teachers  without 
preserving  them  from  error,  and  they  taught  anything 
but  the  infallible  truth,  this  Scripture  would  make  him 
responsible  for  the  dissemination  of  error.  The  teach- 
ing of  the  Apostles  must  then  have  been  without  doubt 
infallible. 

Our  divine  Lord  when  speaking  to  his  disciples  said: 
10  "But  when  the  Comforter  is  come,  whom  I  will  send 
unto  you  from  the  Father,  ...  he  will  guide  you 
into  all  truth."  Now  a  Church  that  is  kept  in  all  truth, 
by  an  Infallible  God,  is  an  infallible  Church. 

Our  separated  brethren,  having  the  "open  Bible,"  will 
read  in  the  Gospel  that,  lx  "if  one  will  not  hear  the 
Church  let  him  be  to  thee  as  a  heathen  and  publican." 
The  institution  here  called  the  Church,  was  not  one  of 

7  1   Thess.    ii,    3. 
s  1  Thess.   iv,   8. 

9  Luke  x,  16. 

10  St.  John  xv,   26;  xvi,   18. 

11  Matt,   xviii,   17. 


Infallibility  39 

the  four  hundred  "rival  churches" ;  for  the  good  and 
sufficient  reason  that  none  of  them  were  in  existence 
at  the  time  the  words  were  spoken ;  but  had  they  been 
in  existence,  their  protest  against  Infallibility  would 
have  established  the  fact  that  they  were  in  no  way  con- 
nected with  the  Church  of  the  Apostles. 

During  the  12  "eight  centuries  and  more,"  in  which 
the  Anglican  Church,  in  her  book  of  homilies,  contends 
that  the  Church  of  the  Apostles  was  "buried  in  damna- 
ble idolatry,"  this  text  in  Matthew  was  sending  the 
people  to  hear  the  Church  under  pain  of  being  consid- 
ered heathen !  If  the  book  of  homilies  is  true,  it  sug- 
gests a  surprising  condition  of  affairs  truly!  But  one 
thing  is  certain ;  if  we  are  bound  to  hear  and  obey  the 
Church  under  so  great  a  penalty,  it  is  manifestly  cer- 
tain that  the  Church,  which  we  are  obliged  to  hear,  is 
equally  bound  to  teach  the  truth,  as  no  soul  can  be 
obliged  to  submit  to  the  dictates  of  error.  As  the 
Church  owning  The  Book  of  Homilies,  in  which  this 
charitable  opinion  is  expressed,  has  little  respect  for 
the  doctrine  of  Infallibility,  we  may  hold  ourselves  ex- 
cusable for  not  receiving  the  statements  of  a  body  of 
men  who  can  give  no  reason  for  their  opinions  otffe 
than  that  they  are  their  opinions. 

No  other  conclusion  is  possible,  than  that,  in  God's 
plan  of  salvation,  there  was  no  place  set  apart  for  error ; 
all  were  to  believe  the  truth,  and  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence, all  believe  alike.  St.  Paul  says :  13  "Now  I 
beseech  you  brethren  to  mark  them  who  cause  disscn- 

12  Book  of  Homilies  Anglican  Church. 

13  Romans   xvi,    17-18. 


40  Infallibility 

sions  and  offenses  contrary  to  the  doctrine  which  you 
have  learned,  and  avoid  them,  for  they  that  are  such, 
serve  not  Christ  our  Lord."  Would  it  be  out  of  place 
here  to  inquire,  if  the  "reformers"  in  Germany,  and 
England,  caused  dissensions? 

Would  our  divine  Saviour  come  to  this  earth  and 
subject  himself  to  cruel  sufferings,  and  death,  to  estab- 
lish the  one  true  Church,  to  be  the  interpreter  of  His 
will,  when  he  foreknew  that,  owing  to  the  inconstant 
mind  of  man,  it  would  soon  become  corrupt  and  tend 
rather  to  the  destruction  than  the  salvation  of  souls, 
without  protecting  his  children  from  the  effects  of 
this  innate  frailty  of  the  mind  and  will?  Such  a  sup- 
position would  be  in  the  greatest  degree  offensive  to 
the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  God. 

Think  for  one  moment  of  the  Church  established  by 
our  divine  Lord  for  the  truth  of  whose  doctrines  the 
noble  army  of  martyrs  suffered,  as  being  in  "damnable 
idolatry,"  until  Luther,  and  Henry  VIII.,  found  time 
to  erect  upon  its  crumbling  ruins  a  new  and  purer  one, 
which  should  be  able  to  teach  the  Lord's  Gospel  which 
the  Lord's  Church  was  incompetent  to  do!  Could  there 
be  any  supposition  more  improbable? 

The  Church  primitive  came  into  existence  through 
the  Divine  Will,  and  its  teaching  was  by  the  same  au- 
thority; this  authority  must  be  considered  a  sufficient 
guarantee  of  truth.  This  truth  the  Saviour  commis- 
sioned his  Apostles  to  teach  in  these  words :  14  "Go  ye, 
therefore  and  teach  all  nations;  baptizing  them  in  the 

14  Matt,  xxviii,   18-19-20. 


Infallibility  41 

name  of  the  Father,  and  of  the  Son,  and  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  Teaching  them  to  observe  all  things  whatso- 
ever I  have  commanded  you ;  and  behold  I  am  with 
you  all  days  even  to  the  consummation  of  the  world." 
To  this  divinely  commissioned  body  of  teachers,  in  an- 
other place  he  says :  15  "He  that  heareth  you,  heareth 
me;  and  he  that  despiseth  you  despiseth  me.  And  he 
that  despiseth  me,  despiseth  him  that  sent  me."  These 
teachers  in  obedience  to  the  divine  command,  taught 
the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth, 
and  necessarily,  their  teaching  was  infallible. 

"Behold  I  am  with  you  all  days,  even  to  the  con- 
summation of  the  world,"  shows  that  he  would  be 
also  with  the  successors  of  this  teaching  body;  it  being 
no  part  of  the  plan  to  establish  an  Infallible  Church, 
and  later  with  the  departure  of  those  to  whom  these 
words  were  addressed,  leave  it  to  fallible  guidance. 
The  radical  changes  continually  taking  place  in  protest- 
ant  belief  show  how  impossible  it  is  to  preserve  the 
faith  as  it  was  when  first  delivered  by  lips  divine — 
without  Infallibility. 

16  "Where  shall  we  look,"  says  the  Jesuit  Father 
Sasia,  "for  that  body  of  teachers  divinely  commissioned 
to  teach,  and  to  teach  infallibly?  The  answer,  though 
a  momentous  one,  thank  God,  is  not  far  to  seek.  For 
when  it  is  a  question  of  identifying  the  ministers  of 
God's  Church,  authorized  to  teach  infallibly,  we  Cath- 
olics raise  a  controversy  in  which  we  have  no  opponent. 
We  vindicate  a  privilege  in  which  we  find  no  rival 

is  Luke  x,   16. 

16  Christian  Apologetics,   Vol.   ii,   pp.   497-498. 


42  Infallibility 

claimants.  For  it  is  a  well-known  fact  that  all  the 
dissenting  sects,  no  matter  how  much  they  may  con- 
flict with  one  another,  are  perfectly  and  unanimously 
agreed  on  this  point  of  disclaiming  infallibility  in  their 
teachers,  and  they  make  it  one  of  their  chief  charges 
against  the  Catholic  Church  that  she  claims  immunity 
from  error  in  faith  and  morals. 

"By  so  doing  they  commit  a  suicidal  act,  for  they 
thereby  renounce  all  claim  to  a  divine  commission  to 
preach  the  Gospel.  For  it  stands  to  reason  that  teach- 
ers who  by  their  own  confession  are  fallible,  may  lead 
to  error  and  teach  falsehood,  cannot  be  supposed  to  be 
divinely  commissioned  and  sent  by  God  to  teach  men 
the  truth.  In  this  question  then  of  the  infallibility  of 
the  Church,  the  free  and  spontaneous  concession  of  our 
adversaries  dispenses  us  from  all  further  proof." 

Being  then  thoroughly  convinced  that  we  have  re- 
ceived the  faith  from  teachers  divinely  commissioned, 
we  shall  remain  steadfastly  loyal  to  those  teachers,  and 
respectfully  decline  to  listen  to  those  self-styled  Doctors 
of  the  "rival  churches,"  who,  instead  of  preaching  this 
faith,  are  but  giving  their  private  opinions  concerning  it. 

We  shall,  therefore,  refuse  to  pass  by  the  words  of 
St.  Paul  that  17  "though  we,  or  an  angel  from  heaven, 
preach  a  gospel  to  you  besides  that  which  we  have 
preached  to  you,  let  him  be  anathema,"  and  reject  all 
invitations  to  learn  of  things  divine  from  human  science 
and  philosophy  after  the  modern  method. 

The  Church  is  perfect  because  it  is  the  work  of  God, 

ir  Gal.   i,   8. 


Infallibility  43 

and  not  the  work  of  man.  The  original  deposit  of 
faith  was  complete.  "I  have  finished  the  work  which 
Thou  gavest  me  to  do,"  said  our  Lord.  And  again: 
"All  things  whatsoever  I  have  heard  of  my  Father,  I 
have  made  known  to  you."  18  "There  was  to  be  no 
tinkering,"  says  Doctor  Cox,  "with  truths  revealed, 
Christ  left  a  Church  and  a  message  that  needed  no 
patching  to  be  perfect.  True  the  Apostles  before  the 
first  Pentecost  were  weak  and  stupid  men,  they  did  not 
comprehend  the  full  force  of  Christ's  message.  But 
the  Holy  Ghost  was  promised  to  supply  for  their  frailty. 
"Change  in  the  Church,  if  such  a  thing  were  possi- 
ble, would  come  about  either  by  addition  or  diminution 
in  the  deposit  of  faith,  or  by  cessation  in  the  constitu- 
tion or  organization  of  the  Church.  But  neither  of 
these  has  taken  place.  Those  who  say  the  Church 
changes,  because  they  notice  a  new  definition  of  doc- 
trine, or  a  new  development  or  energy  put  forth,  forget 
that  the  Church  is  like  that  householder  mentioned  by 
our  Lord  'who  bringeth  forth  out  of  his  treasure  new 
things  and  old.' 

"To  define  a  doctrine  is  to  be  exact  in  teaching  it, 
but  to  teach  does  not  mean  to  invent.  The  Church  in 
every  age  has  defined  doctrines,  but  she  has  never  in- 
vented any.  The  doctrine  of  Christ's  divinity  was  de- 
fined A.  D.  325.  The  dogma  of  the  immortality  of 
the  soul  was  not  defined  until  A.  D.  1512.  The  dogma 
of  the  Personality  of  God  was  undefined  until  the 
Vatican  Council  which  defined  Papal  Infallibility  in 

is  "Pillar  and  Ground  of  the  Truth,"   Rev.   T.   E.   Cox,   p.   235. 


44  Infallibility 

1870.  But  all  these  doctrines  were  believed  from  the 
very  beginning,  as  no  new  dogma  unknown  to  the 
Apostles  can  be  decreed." 

"It  often  happens,"  says  St.  Augustine,  that  "when 
it  becomes  necessary  to  defend  certain  points  of  Cath- 
olic doctrine  against  the  insidious  attacks  of  heretics, 
they  are  more  carefully  studied,  more  clearly  under- 
stood; and  so  the  very  questions  raised  by  heretics 
give  occasion  to  a  more  thorough  knowledge  of  the  sub- 
ject in  question." 

As  St.  Paul  commanded,  19  "Hold  the  form  of  sound 
words,  which  thou  hast  heard  of  me  in  faith."  This 
has  always  been  obeyed  by  the  Catholic  Church,  and 
no  "restatement"  has,  or  will  be  made,  to  "suit  the 
times  or  the  people."  The  attitude  of  the  Church  to- 
wards revealed  truth,  has  in  all  ages  been  that  of  un- 
compromising hostility  to  change.  The  "restatements" 
of  the  faith  have  been  left  to  the  "rival  churches,"  and 
such  restatements  must  be  regarded  as  an  admission  of 
a  like  number  of  previous  mistakes.  Supposing  then 
these  churches  to  have  made  mistakes,  and  in  conse- 
quence taught  error ;  who  can  tell  what  injury  irrepara- 
ble has  been  done;  how  compensate  those  unfortunates 
who  have  passed  beyond  the  border  line  where  mis- 
takes are  rectified — believing  a  lie? 

Our  esteemed  friends  are  wont  to  make  answer  that, 
"if  we  have  believed  error  here,  the  truth  will  be 
shown  us  hereafter."  This  is  a  hopeful  statement  with- 
out sustaining  proof,  and  it  is  the  least  of  all  possible 

19  II   Tim.    i,    13. 


Infallibility  45 

things  to  say,  that  a  soul-saving  rectification  of  our  mis- 
takes in  the  great  hereafter  lacks  confirmation.  We  have 
a  sufficient  time  allowed,  and  the  opportunities  are  mani- 
fold in  which  to  discover  a  faith  so  easily  found  that 
"the  wayfarer,  though  he  be  a  fool,  need  not  err 
therein."  It  is  sad  to  think,  to  know,  the  many  that 
in  the  "rival  churches"  are  accustomed  to  build  large 
hopes  on  small  foundations,  "trusting  that  all  will  come 
right  in  the  end." 

We  may  live  a  good  life  by  obedience  to  revealed 
truth.  We  may  not  live  a  good  life  by  obedience  to 
error;  because,  only  those  who  believe  rightly,  can  at- 
tain that  faith  without  which,  it  is  impossible  to  please 
God.  It  is  obligatory  on  all,  to  believe  the  sum  total 
of  revealed  truth  as  taught  by  those  having  the  divine 
commission,  whose  voice  is  as  the  echo  of  the  divine 
Master's  on  high! 

If  there  is  any  one  thing  that  would  give  our  ad- 
versaries more  comfort  than  another,  it  would  be  to 
find  that  the  Church  had  defined  a  doctrine  in  one 
age  which  she  had  denied  in  another,  thereby  placing 
her,  as  a  teacher,  on  a  level  with  themselves.  But 
search  as  they  may,  no  such  instance  will  be  found,  for 
he  who  promised — through  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost — 
to  keep  the  Church  in  all  truth,  is  faithful  to  keep  his 
promises,  and  we  shall  never  be  obliged  to  spend  our 
time  in  a  vain  search  after  truth,  the  disappointments 
and  uncertainties  of  which  amount  almost  to  torture  and 
despair  and  leave  us  on  the  borderland  of  rank  in- 
fidelity. 

The   editorial   columns   of  the   Outlook  for   February 


46  Infallibility 

14th,  1903,  contain  a  most  extraordinary  article,  enti- 
tled "The  New  Religious  Experience,"  which  shows 
how  those  who  reject  infallible  teaching  in  religion, 
drift  into  vague  and  vacillating  habits  of  mind  and  be- 
come possessed  with  strange  hallucinations,  and  are  ad- 
dicted to  that  general  "flabbiness"  in  their  theology  to 
which  one  of  their  number  has  kindly  called  our  at- 
tention. 

In  this  article,  the  surprising  assertion  that  "faith  in 
God  and  in  the  divine  life  and  law  remains,"  is  found 
the  only  clear  and  definite  statement,  regarding  faith, 
in  the  entire  article;  and  it  serves  as  a  striking  illustra- 
tion of  the  wonderful  progress  which  protestantism  has 
made,  during  its  brief  existence,  which  enables  the 
putting  forth  of  a  dogmatic  pronouncement  with  which 
no  one,  not  even  a  Mohammedan,  could  find  fault. 

This  faith  in  God  "is  not  the  same  faith.  Is  it  richer 
or  poorer?  stronger  or  weaker?  clearer  or  more  dim?" 
As  no  answer  has  been  given,  we  venture  for  the  last 
half  of  each  query  to  say:  it  undoubtedly  is.  "But  does 
more  of  reverence  in  us  dwell  ?"  Those  protestants  who 
sometimes  attend  our  services  on  great  festivals,  have 
remarked  that  the  advantage  in  this  respect  was  with 
us.  "The  music  of  mind  and  soul  is  in  better  accord." 
This  is  superlatively  practical,  and  in  missionary  work 
among  catholics,  it  would  be  well  to  call  their  attention 
to  it. 

"The  New  Experience  does  not  look  out  and  up  to 
a  King  upon  a  great  white  throne,  nor,  to  a  divine 
Man  by  the  sea  of  Galilee;  it  looks  within  to  the  God 


Infallibility  47 

who  tabernacles  with  men."  There  is  doubtless  much 
truth  known  to  the  Old  Experience,  which  is  unknown 
to  the  "New."  In  the  knowledge  of  the  former,  God 
has  not  been  dethroned  but  still  continues  the  Great 
Law-giver  and  Judge.  Upon  his  throne  he  gives  just 
judgment  and  governs  the  world  in  equity.  He  has 
not  grown  old  and  feeble,  and  is  not  too  kind-hearted 
to  punish  the  sinner  who  breaks  his  law.  He  will  re- 
quire an  accounting  even  for  every  idle  word,  and  it 
is  now,  as  it  ever  has  been,  "a  fearful  thing  to  fall 
into  the  hands  of  the  Living  God,"  for  those  who  keep 
not  his  commandments,  obey  not  his  law. 

Upon  the  right  hand  of  God  the  Father,  sits  the 
divine  Man  of  Galilee,  who  is  the  second  Person  of 
the  Blessed  Trinity,  true  God  and  true  Man;  whose 
divine  and  human  natures  are  merged  into  one  divine 
Person,  the  Son  of  God,  co-equal  with  the  Father  and 
the  Holy  Ghost — one  God  blessed  forever. 

The  Old  Experience  "looked  within  to  the  God  who 
tabernacles  with  men"  two  thousand  years  nearly  before 
the  New  Experience  declared  it  a  recent  discovery. 
Throughout  the  Christian  Era  when  devout  souls  in 
Holy  Communion  received  the  Body  and  Blood  of  the 
divine  Son,  they  "looked  within  to  the  God  who  taber- 
nacles with  men,"  and  in  so  doing  found  a  divine  peace 
in  the  soul  and  a  strengthening  of  the  faith  that,  ordi- 
narily speaking,  only  those  can  experience  who  receive 
not  the  shadow,  but  the  reality. 

"If  it  is  more  difficult  to  believe  in  miracles,  it  is 
less  important  if  the  extraordinary  manifestations  of 


48  Infallibility 

God  recounted  in  ancient  history  appear  less  credible, 
the  ordinary  manifestations  of  God  in  current  life  ap- 
pear more  real.  .  .  .  All  so-called  natural  phenom- 
ena appear  not  less  supernatural  than  the  so-called  mir- 
aculous :  the  change  of  water  into  wine  by  the  vineyard 
not  less  than  the  similar  change  at  the  wedding  feast." 

It  is  not  difficult  for  those  who  receive  their  faith 
from  an  infallible  authority,  to  believe  in  miracles ;  and 
the  effort  of  this  writer  to  discredit  them,  is  to  assert 
that  one  of  the  principal  means  of  propagating  the 
Christian  religion  in  the  first  century — the  miracles  of 
our  Lord  and  His  Apostles — were  just  so  many  separate 
acts  of  fraud  and  deception! 

The  so-called  laws  of  nature  are  put  in  operation  by 
the  power  of  the  Almighty,  who  can  at  will  modify, 
change,  or  suppress  them  altogether.  If  under  favora- 
ble circumstances  we  plant  a  grape  vine,  in  a  reason- 
able time  we  may  expect  fruit  which,  if  we  desire  and 
have  the  knowledge  necessary,  we  can  manufacture  into 
wine. 

At  the  marriage  feast  in  Cana,  the  Blessed  Virgin 
being  aware  of  the  lack  of  wine,  desired  her  divine  Son 
to  supply  that  deficiency.  Although  the  time  when  our 
Lord  was  to  begin  his  public  ministry  was  not  yet  at 
hand,  still  at  the  expressed  wish  of  his  Mother — to 
whom  he  could  refuse  nothing,  he  at  the  moment  and 
in  direct  opposition  to  the  natural  law  established  by 
God,  without  the  aid  of  time  or  the  agency  of  the 
vine,  produced  from  a  jar  of  ordinary  water,  wine  that 
had  all  the  qualities  of  a  right  manufacture  tempered 


Infallibility  49 

by  age.  This  was  not  a  so-called  miracle,  but  one  in 
fact  and  in  truth. 

St.  Augustine  in  the  fourth  century  says:  "Who 
draws  up  the  sap  through  the  root  of  the  vine  to  the 
cluster,  and  makes  the  wine,  save  God  who,  while  man 
plants  and  waters,  gives  the  increase?  But  when  at 
the  command  of  the  Lord  the  water  was  made  wine 
with  unwonted  quickness,  the  Divine  power  was  de- 
clared, as  even  fools  allow.  Who  in  their  wonted 
fashion  clothes  the  trees  with  leaf  and  flower  save  God? 
Yet  when  the  rod  of  Aaron  the  priest  budded,  the 
Godhead,  as  it  were,  spake  with  doubting  man."  St. 
Thomas  Aquinas  says:  "Those  are  rightly  termed  mir- 
acles, which  are  wrought  by  Divine  power  apart  from 
the  order  usually  observed  in  nature." 

"We  believe  less  and  less  in  the  aphorism,  The 
kingdom  of  heaven  suffereth  violence,  and  the  violent 
take  it  by  force.' '  The  Old  Experience  can  show,  in 
the  early  hours  of  morning,  large  numbers  of  catholics 
who  believe  the  entire  Scriptures,  and  who  are  on  their 
way  to  Church  to  take  the  kingdom  of  heaven,  by  doing 
violence  to  their  natural  love  of  luxury  and  ease,  while 
those  of  the  New  Experience  are  practicing  their  old 
experience  of  lying  snug  and  warm  in  their  beds. 

"Ecclesiastical  authority  is  no  longer  recognized  by 
the  New  Experience.  It  is  frankly  disowned  and  de- 
nied." At  the  commencement  of  our  Saviour's  public 
life  as  a  teacher,  there  were  two  things  which  stood 
out  clear  cut  and  distinct  from  that  of  any  teacher  the 
world  had  known.  It  was,  that  first  "he  taught  as  one 
having  authority,"  secondly,  the  power  to  work  mir- 


50  Infallibility 

acles  to  prove  the  divinity  of  his  teaching.     Both  these 
prerogatives  the  New  Experience  denies. 

"A  text  of  Scripture  is  no  longer  conclusive  as  to 
doctrine;  a  precept  of  Scripture  is  no  longer  conclusive 
as  a  command.  The  Bible  is  less  looked  upon  as  itself 
the  word  of  God."  That  a  precept  of  Scripture  capable 
of  being  explained  in  four  hundred  different  ways,  "is 
no  longer  conclusive"  of  anything,  is  a  self-evident  fact, 
not  a  discovery  by  the  New  Experience.  As  it  is  evi- 
dent that  this  new  church  of  the  Outlook  Publishing 
Company  does  not  believe  the  Bible — from  not  know- 
ing how  to  use  it — it  would  be  well  to  return  it  to  the 
Catholic  Church,  its  rightful  owner  and  infallible  ex- 
plainer. 

We  commend  to  the  New  Experience,  an  article  from 
a  non-catholic  writer  who  has  "thought  to  have  discov- 
ered the  right  way  of  using  the  Bible.  We  agree  with 
him  in  everything  except  his  part  in  the  discovery. 
1  "Any  supernatural  religion  that  renounces  its  claims 
to  an  absolute  Infallibility,  it  is  clear  can  profess  to  be 
a  semi-revelation  only.  It  is  a  hybrid  thing,  partly 
natural  and  partly  supernatural,  and  it  thus  practically 
has  all  the  qualities  of  a  religion  that  is  wholly  natural. 
In  so  far  as  it  professes  to  be  revealed,  it  of  course 
professes  to  be  Infallible,  but  if  the  revealed  part  be 
in  the  first  place  hard  to  understand  and  in  the  second 
place  hard  to  distinguish  if  it  may  mean  many  things, 
arid  many  of  those  contradictory,  it  might  just  as  well 
have  been  never  made  at  all. 

20  William  Hurrel  Mallock. 


Infallibility  51 

"To  make  it  in  any  sense  a  revelation  infallible  to  us, 
we  need  a  poiver  to  interpret  the  testament  that  shall 
have  equal  authority  with  that  testament  itself.  Simple 
as  this  truth  seems,  mankind  have  been  a  long  time  in 
learning  it.  Indeed,  it  is  only  in  the  present  day  that 
its  practical  meaning  has  come  generally  to  be  recog- 
nized. 

"But  now  at  this  moment,  upon  all  sides  of  us,  his- 
tory is  teaching  it  to  us  by  an  example,  so  clearly  that 
we  can  no  longer  mistake  it.  That  example  is  Protestant 
Christianity,  and  the  condition  to  which,  after  more 
than  three  centuries,  it  is  now  bringing  itself.  It  is  at 
last  beginning  to  exhibit  to  us  the  true  results  of  the 
denial  of  Infallibility  to  a  religion  that  professes  to  be 
supernatural.  It  is  fast  evaporating  into  a  mere  natural 
theism,  and  is  thus  showing  us  what,  as  a  governing 
power,  natural  theism  is. 

"Let  us  look  at  England,  Europe  and  America,  and 
consider  the  condition  of  the  entire  protestant  world. 
Religion,  it  is  true,  we  shall  find  in  it,  but  it  is  a  re- 
ligion from  which  not  only  the  supernatural  element  is 
disappearing,  but  in  which  the  natural  element  is  fast 
becoming  nebulous.  It  is  indeed  merging  into  a  religion 
of  dreams,  and  like  dreams  their  outlines  are  forever 
changing.  There  is  hardly  any  conceivable  aberration 
of  moral  license  that  has  not,  in  some  quarter  or  other, 
embodied  itself  into  a  rule  of  life,  and  claimed  to  be 
the  proper  outcome  of  Protestant  Christianity." 

Our  protestant  friend  has  here  given  us  words  of 
true  wisdom,  admirably  expressed,  which,  without  doubt, 
he  has  thought  out  for  himself  without  being  in  the  least 


52  Infallibility 

aware  that  this  principle  has  been  known  and  acted 
upon  by  the  Catholic  Church  since  its  establishment. 
This  Church  is  the  only  existing  authority  that  has 
claimed  the  right  to  infallibly  declare  the  true  mean- 
ing of  Holy-writ,  and  without  which  authority,  the 
Bible  intended  for  our  good,  becomes  a  snare  to  the 
feet. 

In  this  New  Religious  Experience  of  the  Outlook, 
we  find  no  definite  and  clear  statement  concerning  any 
doctrine  of  the  Christian  Religion.  The  greater  num- 
ber of  its  sentences  begin  with  an  if.  "If  there  are 
fewer  religious  excitements,  there  are  more  moral  and 
civic  reforms.  If  the  extraordinary  manifestations  of 
God  recounted  in  ancient  history  appear  less  credible, 
the  ordinary  manifestations  of  God  in  current  life  ap- 
pear more  real.  //  we  have  ceased  to  follow  the  divine 
Christ,  we  have  more  intimate  fellowship  with  the  hu- 
man Christ." 

Protestantism  had  its  genesis  in  the  principle  that 
justification  was  by  faith  alone;  but  now  the  antithesis 
of  the  former  view  is  averred,  and  what  your  faith  may 
be,  is  not  important,  provided  you  talk  about  civic 
corruption  and  reform,  and  work  for  the  betterment 
of  the  tenement-house  system  of  ventilation,  and  the 
general  improvement  of  the  terrestrial  heaven.  In  the 
New  Experience,  there  is  no  doctrine  of  the  Trinity ;  no 
mention  of  the  divinity  of  Christ ;  no  Holy  Ghost ;  no 
miracles ;  no  sacraments ;  no  Bible — except  ancient  his- 
tory— nothing  in  anyway  appertaining  to  the  Christian 
religion,  in  the  Outlook's  New  Experience. 


Infallibility  53 

How  very  different  all  this  in  the  Church  of  the  Old 
Experience ;  that  Church  founded  by  God.  That  Church 
which  from  the  first  institution  of  Christianity  has 
taught  one  faith  only,  considering  well  that  as  God  is 
infallible  and  immutable,  so  that  faith  which  he  has 
revealed,  must  of  necessity  possess  the  same  character- 
istics. 

Here  as  in  a  quiet  harbor  we  have  rest  and  peace. 
Our  ears  are  closed  to  the  oft  repeated  cry :  "Lo !  here," 
science  has  discovered  that  which  threatens  to  overturn 
the  Christian  faith.  "Lo!  there,"  evolution  has  given 
us  new  ideas  about  creation,  faith,  destiny.  With  all 
these  alarms  sounding  in  our  ears,  yet  we  are  unterri- 
fied,  for  the  faith  once  delivered  to  the  saints  is  an 
infallible  faith  revealed  by  divine  authority.  True  in 
the  beginning,  true  it  must  always  be,  so  long  as  God 
sits  upon  his  throne  of  truth,  justice  and  equity,  judg- 
ing the  world  in  righteousness. 

Therefore  no  other  argument  is  needed  to  prove  pro- 
testantism in  the  wrong,  than  their  own  confession  that 
they  are  fallible  and  that  they  change. 


CHAPTER  III. 
THE  PRIMACY  OF  PETER. 

The  wisdom  resulting  from  experience  has  demon- 
strated that  every  living  body  having  a  specific  work 
to  do  among  men,  must  have  a  visible  head. 

While  it  is  true  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the  King  of 
kings,  the  Governor  of  all  nations  and  peoples,  yet 
he  governs  by  visible  agents.  In  the  economy  of  na- 
tions we  see  every  government  having  a  head,  be  it 
emperor,  president,  or  king.  Every  fraternal  society, 
every  social  club,  has  its  presiding  officer.  No  army 
without  a  commander-in-chief ;  no  ship  without  its  cap- 
tain. The  peace  of  families  even  requires  that  some 
one  should  preside.  x  The  Jewish  Church  had  a  su- 
preme head  in  the  high  priest,  whose  decisions,  prac- 
tically infallible,  were  sometimes  enforced  under  pain 
of  death. 

The  Founder  of  the  Christian  Church,  before  his 
Ascension,  working  in  harmony  with  these  truths,  pro- 
vided a  visible  head  for  its  guidance ;  for,  if  a  head 
was  necessary  for  the  perfecting  of  order  in  these  in- 
stances, and  in  the  Church  of  the  Old  Dispensation  for 
the  better  preservation  of  its  unity  and  authority,  it 
must  be  equally  so  for  the  Church  of  the  New  Dis- 
pensation, of  which  the  Old  was  the  type  and  figure. 

As  governments  deprived  of  their  head   would,  in  a 

i  Deut.   xvii. 


The  Primacy  of  Peter  55 

short  time,  become  anarchical ;  armies  without  a  general- 
in-chief  become  armed  mobs ;  ships  without  commanders, 
sailing  the  seas  the  sport  of  varying  winds  and  cur- 
rents inviting  shipwreck;  so  God's  Church,  without  a 
head  to  guide  its  course,  from  being  the  greatest  factor 
known  in  the  solution  of  life's  problems  concerning  our 
future  destiny  would  become  the  most  conspicuous  fail- 
ure of  all  the  failures  named. 

Among  the  disciples  of  our  dear  Lord's  choosing  was 
one  named  Simon,  a  fisherman,  to  whom  the  Saviour 
gave  the  name  of  Peter,  signifying  a  stone  or  rock. 
The  divine  Master,  had  upon  one  occasion  declared  that 
stability  in  any  structure  was  dependent  upon  a  rock 
foundation.  What  significance  could  be  attached  to 
this  name  were  the  protestant  theory  the  correct  one, 
it  is  difficult  to  imagine;  but  to  the  catholic,  in  view  of 
the  subsequent  action  of  our  Lord,  when  turning  to 
Simon,  he  said :  2  "Thou  art  Peter,"  a  rock,  "and  on 
this  rock  I  will  build  my  Church,"  the  significance  of 
Simon's  new  name  stands  out  with  startling  boldness 
on  the  sacred  page. 

Protestants  have  several  theories  by  which  to  explain 
away  this  unwelcome  text;  the  one  most  relied  upon 
being,  that  the  Church  was  built  not  on  Peter  himself, 
but  upon  Peter's  confession  that  Christ  was  the  Son 
of  God.  As  there  is  no  mention  anywhere  in  the  Bible 
anent  the  building  of  the  Church  on  Peter's  confession, 
and  our  esteemed  adversaries  decline  to  receive  anything 

2  Matt,   xvi,    18. 


56  The  Primacy  of  Peter 

not  contained  therein,  it  would  be  of  interest  to  know 
whence  they  received  their  information. 

While  protestants  profess  to  believe  nothing  outside 
the  Bible,  they  believe  to  a  sufficient  extent  in  themselves 
regarding  their  ability  to  explain  it.  In  the  interests 
of  economy  in  time  and  thought,  however,  the  larger 
number  prefer  to  rely  upon  their  teachers;  hence  the 
"Protestant  Commentator"  from  whom,  rather  than 
from  the  Bible  direct,  they  receive  their  information. 

Mr.  Barnes  in  his  protestant  "Notes  on  the  Gospels," 
admits  that  the  Church  was  built  on  Peter,  and  that 
"a  great  many  other  opinions  than  this  evidently  the 
true  one  have  been  sought  by  commentators  because 
the  Church  of  Rome  has  abused  it  and  applied  it  to 
what  was  never  intended,"  and  were  it  not  for  that, 
"no  other  meaning  would  have  been  sought  for."  As 
there  can  never  be  but  one  true  meaning  to  a  text  of 
Scripture,  may  we,  as  a  "Romanist,"  be  allowed  to 
apologize  for  the  bad  conduct  of  the  Church  in  so  ex- 
plaining the  Bible  as  to  make  it  necessary  for  protestant 
commentators  to  wander  from  the  ways  of  truth,  in 
which  they  so  much  delight  to  walk,  and  adopt  untrue 
methods  in  explaining  the  sacred  text. 

That  the  Church  was  built  on  Peter,  the  rock,  as 
emblematic  of  stability,  and  in  contrast  to  the  house 
built  upon  the  sand  that  in  the  first  storm  became  a 
ruin,  is  a  perfectly  reasonable  conclusion  and  one  that 
would  naturally  be  the  first  to  occur  to  the  mind.  There 
is  no  difficulty  in  understanding  this  text  as  far  as 
catholics  are  concerned,  but  were  protestants  to  accept 
its  plain  and  obvious  meaning,  it  would  compel  the 


The  Primacy  of  Peter  57 

acknowledgment  of  Peter's  Primacy;  they  have,  there- 
fore, been  obliged  to  seek  "a  great  many  other  opin- 
ions than  this  evidently  the  true  one." 

In  the  Syro  Chaldaic  tongue  which  our  divine  Lord 
used,  the  word  rock  is  repeated,  therefore,  the  exact 
words  spoken  to  Peter  were:  "Thou  art  a  rock  and 
upon  this  rock,"  etc.  If  according  to  our  Lord's  prom- 
ise the  gates  of  hell  should  not  be  able  to  overthrow 
his  Church,  it  must  be  owing  to  its  rock  foundation 
which  is  here  declared  to  be  Peter.  In  this  foundation 
then  lies  the  fullness  of  power,  a  power  that  Satan 
himself  cannot  successfully  strive  against. 

3  "The  foundation  upon  which  a  perfect  society  rests 
cannot  be  anything  else  than  the  supreme  authority 
which  governs  it.  As  it  is  to  the  character  of  its 
foundation  that  a  building  owes  its  solidity,  the  close 
union  of  its  parts,  and  even  its  very  existence,  it  is 
likewise  from  the  authority  of  Peter  that  the  Church 
derives  her  unity,  her  stability,  and  even  her  existence 
itself."  It  was,  therefore,  no  new  doctrine  suggested 
by  St.  Ambrose  (A.  D.  397)  when  he  averred  that 
"where  Peter  is  there  is  the  Church."  4  "Where  the 
Church  is,  there  is  Christ,  her  Founder;  and  where 
Christ  is,  there  is  salvation;  for  as  St.  Peter  himself 
spoke,  5  'Nor  is  there  salvation  in  any  other.  For  there 
is  no  other  name  under  heaven  given  to  men,  whereby 
we  must  be  saved.' '; 

As  where  Peter  is,  there  is  the  Church,  his  Primacy 

3  "Christian  Apologetics,"  p.  463,  Devivier,   S.   J. 

4  Ibid. 

5  Acts  iv,  12. 


58  The  Primacy  of  Peter 

of  honor  and  jurisdiction  necessarily  extends  through- 
out the  civilized  world.  This  was  the  reward  given 
Peter  for  his  noble  confession  of  faith,  and  in  this 
reward  Christ's  Church,  in  being  provided  with  a  head, 
becomes  the  chief  beneficiary. 

Continuing,  Mr.  Barnes  cites  the  fifteenth  chapter 
of  Acts,  to  show  that  at  a  general  council  of  the 
Church,  James's  advice  was  followed  instead  of  Peter's. 
This  is  an  unfortunate  reference  for  the  purpose.  In 
reading  the  chapter,  the  first  thing  of  importance  is 
that  Peter  presided.  Peter  was  also  the  first  speaker. 
Peter,  according  to  Mr.  Barnes,  was  the  most  "dis- 
tinguished" one  there.  Peter  authoritatively  announced 
the  truth  that  circumcision  had  no  place  in  the  Gospel. 
This  ended  the  disputation.  St.  James  echoed  the  sen- 
timent without  in  any  way  changing  Peter's  decision. 
Such  general  instructions  as  affirmed  Peter's  decision, 
and  further  related  to  questions  of  discipline  were  em- 
bodied in  a  short  epistle. 

Mr.  Barnes  also  refers  to  Galatians  ii,  11,  where  St. 
Paul,  "withstood  Peter  to  his  face  because  he  was  to 
be  blamed."  While  it  is  not  unheard  of — several  popes 
having  at  times  been  admonished — still  it  is  not  usual 
certainly  for  an  inferior  to  rebuke  his  superior,  and, 
therefore,  it  is  here  thought  to  be  all  the  more  worthy 
of  record  that  such  was  the  fact.  Had  St.  John,  or 
any  other  apostle  beside  Peter,  been  reproved,  probably 
no  mention  would  have  been  made  of  it. 

If  Dr.  Barnes  could  show  that  this  rebuke  was  for 
failure  in  teaching  the  faith,  then  he  would  have  rea- 


The  Primacy  of  Peter  59 

son  for  saying  that  Peter  was  "not  as  catholics  claimed, 
infallible,"  but  as  this  was  a  question  affecting  dis- 
cipline only,  no  conclusions  can  be  drawn  against  either 
Peter's  Primacy,  or  infallibility. 

This  commentator  explains  the  nineteenth  verse :  "And 
I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom."  "This 
means  that  He  will  make  him  the  instrument  of  open- 
ing the  door  of  faith  to  the  world,  the  first  to  preach 
the  Gospel  to  both  Jews  and  Gentiles.  This  was  done. 
The  power  of  the  keys  was  given  to  Peter  alone  solely 
for  this  reason." 

And  this  is  all  there  is  to  this  Gospel.  "And  I  say 
also  unto  thee,  that  thou  art  Peter — a  rock — and  upon 
this  rock  I  will  build  my  church ;  and  the  gates  of  hell 
shall  not  prevail  against  it.  And  I  will  give  unto  thee 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven :  and  whatsoever 
thou  shalt  bind  on  earth,  shall  be  bound  in  heaven ; 
and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be 
loosed  in  heaven."  Sixty-six  words  here,  require  but 
twenty-six  words  in  explanation.  What  a  disappoint- 
ment that  such  wonderful  words  of  our  divine  Re- 
deemer, should,  when  explained,  mean  so  little. 

Like  an  accomplished  artist  in  legerdemain,  Mr. 
Barnes  here  keeps  the  leading  figures — power  and  au- 
thority— in  the  twilight,  turning  the  searchlight  full 
on  the  lesser  truth  that  Peter  was  to  be  the  first  preacher 
to  Jews  and  Gentiles;  for  it  was  of  little  importance — 
except  that  our  Lord  willed  to  make  Peter  first  in 
everything — whether  Peter,  or  James,  or  John,  was  the 


60  The  Primacy  of  Peter 

first  preacher,  so  long  as  the  Gospel  was  preached  and 
souls  saved. 

The  power  of  the  keys  is  defined  as  simply  to  open, 
which  of  course  is  the  statement  of  a  half-truth;  in 
this  way  he  conveys,  most  shrewdly,  the  idea,  that  after 
Peter  had  opened  the  door  of  faith,  the  keys  would 
be  no  longer  useful  to  Peter,  or  any  one  else,  it  being 
no  part  of  the  divine  plan  that  the  door  of  faith  should 
be  closed  to  the  world,  and,  therefore,  having  no  fur- 
ther use  for  the  keys  Peter  naturally  did  not  pass  them 
on  to  his  successor. 

The  protestant  theory  of  the  Primacy  is,  that  it  did 
not  raise  Peter  above  the  other  apostles,  but  was  only 
a  permission  that  he  should  be  the  first  to  preach  the 
Gospel,  as  a  personal  favor  for  his  prompt  confession 
of  our  Lord's  divinity ;  and,  therefore,  Peter  had  no 
successors  and  the  Church  no  head.  Such  a  Primacy 
as  this  would  be  but  small  honor  to  Peter,  and  as  to 
being  of  any  practical  value  to  the  Church,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  understand  in  what  it  could  consist. 

The  protestant  theory,  therefore,  is  clearly  seen  to 
be  a  seeking  for  "other  meanings  than  the  true  one," 
to  serve  their  purpose;  knowing  the  admission  of  the 
Gospel  doctrine  of  the  Primacy  of  Peter,  to  be  true, 
and  that  the  Christian  Church  from  the  beginning  had 
a  head,  makes  it  clear  that  the  "rival  churches"  who 
had  no  head,  can  in  no  way  be  connected  with  the 
Church  which  our  divine  Lord  established.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  the  Catholic  Church  has  been  in  t.he  possession 
of  a  head  called  the  Pope,  for  a  length  of  time  which  no 


The  Primacy  of  Peter  61 

one  can  determine  if  it  did  not  come  into  existence  with 
Peter. 

The  protestant  commentator  Matthew  Henry,  in  ex- 
plaining the  passage,  "the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  pre- 
vail," says :  "This  gives  no  security  to  any  particular 
church  or  church  governors  that  they  shall  never  err, 
never  apostatize  or  be  destroyed;  but  that  somewhere 
or  other  the  Christian  religion  shall  have  a  being, 
though  not  always  in  the  same  degree  of  purity  and 
splendor,  yet  so  as  the  entail  of  it  shall  never  be  quite 
cut  off." 

Mr.  Henry  here  takes  an  exceedingly  hopeful  view; 
his  church  is  not  preserved  from  error;  it  can  apos- 
tatize and  it  can  very  nearly  be  destroyed.  What  more 
in  the  nature  of  consolation  could  any  one  desire?  It 
is  surprising  what  solid  comfort  protestants  enjoy  in 
the  belief  that  their  churches  are  fallible  and  may  lead 
them  into  error. 

Professor  Schaff  takes  the  view  that  "the  keys  here 
meant  are  the  keys  of  the  house  steward,  who  under 
the  instructions  of  the  master  of  the  house,  will  admit 
or  refuse  admittance  to  any  whom  his  master  may  or 
may  not  want  in  his  household."  The  protestant  com- 
mentator Ahrens,  explains  that  "the  keys  are  those  of 
the  different  rooms  of  the  house,  and  also  where  the 
provisions  are  kept." 

As  we  see  the  landscape  dwindle  to  almost  nothing 
while  looking  through  the  large  end  of  a  telescope,  we, 
looking  through  protestant  glasses,  behold  St.  Peter 
becoming  a  house  steward,  and  the  keys  of  the  kingdom 


62  The  Primacy  of  Peter 

of  heaven,  the  keys  of  the  pantry  where  the  provisions 
are  kept.  Under  the  protestant  custom  of  belittling 
everything  in  the  explanation,  the  power  of  the  keys 
is  no  longer  worth  mentioning  but  for  the  fact  of  the 
record  in  the  Bible  of  so  trivial  a  circumstance! 

The  keys  have  always  been  regarded  as  emblematic 
of  authority,  of  power,  and  jurisdiction.  Our  Lord 
said  that  "he  had  the  keys  of  death  and  hell"  to  imply 
that  he  had  power  and  jurisdiction  over  them.  Author- 
ity can  be  delegated  to  another  by  the  keys;  thus  the 
owner  of  a  house  can  let  it  to  another,  give  up  the 
keys  and  with  them  his  authority  over  it. 

The  great  Head  of  the  Church,  in  like  manner  at 
his  departure,  gave  to  Peter  and  his  successors — if  the 
Church  was  to  receive  any  lasting  benefit  from  this 
grant  of  power — the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
and  with  them  complete  jurisdiction  over  it,  promising 
to  ratify  his  sentence  of  admission  to  or  exclusion  there- 
from, in  the  words  6  "whatsoever  thou  shalt  bind  on 
earth  shall  be  bound  in  heaven;  and  whatsoever  thou 
shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed  in  heaven." 

In  the  commentary  on  the  last  part  of  this  verse, 
Mr.  Barnes  endeavors  to  make  the  point  that  the  word 
whatsoever,  in  the  sentence  whatsoever  thou  shalt 
bind,  etc.,  refers  to  things,  not  persons,  and  was  in- 
tended to  forbid  the  eating  of  things  offered  to  idols, 
circumcision,  etc.  In  the  Gospel  according  to  St.  John 
it  reads :  7  'Whose  soever  sins  ye  remit,  they  are  re- 
mitted unto  them;  and  whose  soever  sins  ye  retain,  they 

6  Matt,  xviii,   18. 

7  John  xx,   23. 


The  Primacy  of  Peter  63 

are  retained."  This  text  being  in  phraseology  different 
from  that  quoted  by  Doctor  Barnes,  proves  disastrous 
to  his  argument  and  shows  that  perhaps  the  protestant 
Doctor  was  unfamiliar  with  the  established  rule  among 
commentators,  that  one  text  of  Scripture  may  not  be 
so  explained  as  to  destroy  its  harmony  with  a  similar 
text  relating  to  the  same  subject. 

A  short  time  before  his  passion,  our  Lord,  address- 
ing Peter,  spoke  these  significant  words :  8  "Simon, 
Simon,  behold  Satan  hath  desired  to  have  you  that  he 
may  sift  you  as  wheat:  But  I  have  prayed  for  thee  that 
thy  faith  fail  not:  and  thou  being  once  converted,  con- 
firm thy  brethren."  Why  should  Satan  desire  to  pos- 
sess Peter,  more  than  any  other  Apostle,  if  it  were 
not  that  he  was  the  primate  of  them  all?  Satan  had 
failed  when  tempting  our  Lord,  he  yet  hoped  for  suc- 
cess with  the  next  in  authority,  Simon  Peter. 

In  the  lists  of  the  Apostles,  Peter's  name  is  invaria- 
bly placed  first.  St.  Matthew  calls  Peter  the  first  Apos- 
tle, but  as  he  was  not  the  first  chosen,  it  could  be  only 
for  the  Primacy  that  this  could  be  true.  Peter  was  re- 
quested by  our  Lord  to  confirm  his  brethren,  which 
most  certainly  implies  Primacy. 

Peter  was  the  one  apostle  to  whom  the  Master  most 
often  referred,  as  when  saying:  "Go  tell  the  disciples 
and  Peter,"  "Peter,  and  they  that  were  with  him." 
"And  they  said  unto  Peter,  and  the  rest  of  the  apos- 
tles." It  was  Peter's  barque  which  Jesus  entered  from 
which  to  teach  the  multitude.  It  is  to  Peter  the  words 

8  St.   Luke  xxii,   31-32. 


64  The  Primacy  of  Peter 

are  spoken:  "Fear  not;  from  henceforth  thou  shalt 
catch  men."  In  the  Gospel  of  St.  Matthew,  the  name  of 
Peter  occurs  twenty-four  times,  that  of  James  and  John 
three  times ;  the  other  nine,  once  each,  excepting  Judas 
who  was  prominent  for  his  infamy. 

Peter  was  the  first  apostle  to  work  a  miracle.  In 
choosing  an  apostle  to  take  the  place  of  Judas,  Peter 
presides  and  he  alone  speaks,  the  others  obey. 

At  the  Apostolic  Council  of  Jerusalem,  "there  was 
much  disputing"  until  Peter  spoke,  after  which  "all  the 
multitude  held  their  peace." 

When  St.  James  was  cast  into  prison,  although  he  was 
cousin  to  our  Lord,  it  created  little  excitement ;  but 
when  Peter  was  cast  into  prison,  the  Church  was  in 
great  consternation,  and  "prayer  was  made  without  ceas- 
ing by  the  Church  to  God  for  him."  The  Church 
might  survive  the  loss  of  a  distinguished  apostle,  but 
when  the  head  Shepherd  was  attacked,  there  was  some- 
thing out  of  the  ordinary  to  cause  grief  and  fear,  for 
with  the  loss  of  their  head,  the  enemies  of  the  infant 
Church  might  hope  to  scatter  and  separate  the  members, 
and  thus  through  division  conquer. 

After  our  Savour's  resurrection,  he  said  to  Simon 
Peter,  9  "Simon,  son  of  John,  lovest  thou  me  more  than 
these  ?  He  saith  to  him :  Yea,  Lord,  thou  knowest  that 
I  love  thee.  He  saith  to  him:  Feed  my  lambs.  He 
saith  to  him  again:  Simon,  son  of  John,  lovest  thou 
me  ?  He  saith  to  him :  Yea,  Lord,  thou  knowest  that 
I  love  thee.  He  saith  to  him :  Feed  my  lambs.  He 

9  St.  John  xxi,  15-16-17. 


The  Primacy  of  Peter  65 

saith  to  him  the  third  time.  Simon,  son  of  John,  lovest 
thou  me?  Peter  was  grieved  because  he  said  to  him 
the  third  time,  Lovest  thou  me?  And  he  said  to  him, 
Lord  thou  knowest  all  things;  thou  knowest  that  I  love 
thee.  He  said  to  him :  Feed  my  sheep." 

In  this  bequest  contained  in  the  last  Will  and  Testa- 
ment of  our  divine  Redeemer  just  prior  to  his  ascen- 
sion, he  provides  a  Head  Shepherd  for  his  entire  flock. 

There  were  present  at  this  time,  Peter  and  all  but 
three  of  the  apostles,  but  our  Lord  speaks  to  Peter 
alone,  referring  to  the  other  apostles  as  "these."  In 
order  to  impress  more  forcibly  upon  the  minds  of 
Peter,  "and  those  that  were  with  him,"  the  great  im- 
portance of  the  act  which  he  was  about  to  perform,  he 
repeats  the  question  to  Peter,  three  times,  and  after  each 
affirmative  answer,  repeats  the  words  of  the  divine 
commission  to  feed,  to  take  care  of,  and  to  govern  as  the 
Chief  Shepherd,  Christ's  lambs;  Christ's  sheep;  Christ's 
entire  flock. 

In  all  Scripture,  there  is  no  more  sweetly  solemn 
scene  portrayed,  than  this,  of  their  last  meal  together 
by  the  limpid  waters  of  Galilee,  so  short  a  time  before 
the  Ascension  morning. 

In  all  Scripture,  there  is  no  prophet,  apostle,  bishop, 
or  priest,  to  whom  such  words  were  ever  addressed  as 
these  to  Peter. 

In  all  Scripture,  no  passage  that  needs  less  explana- 
tion; so  plain  that  he  who  runs  may  read. 

Again,  consider  what  has  been  said  regarding  the  neces- 
sity of  a  head  for  every  living  body;  the  significance  of 
the  name  given  to  Simon,  followed  by  the  declaration 


66  The  Primacy  of  Peter 

that  upon  this  rock  the  Church  is  builded ;  the  power  of 
the  keys ;  the  fact  that  Peter  is  seen  to  be  the  central  fig- 
ure and  leading  spirit  of  the  College  Apostolic,  and  that, 
as  a  fitting  climax,  is  here  made  the  Head  Shepherd  of 
Christ's  whole  flock;  it  is  impossible  to  see  how  even  the 
most  biased  of  readers  can  escape  the  conviction,  that 
these  incidents  in  the  life  and  ministry  of  Peter,  all 
agreeing  so  well  with  each  other,  and  pointing  in  one 
direction  only,  can  fail  to  show  as  unerringly  as  the 
needle  the  polar  star,  The  Primacy  of  Peter. 

In  this  connection  also  consider  this  accessory  fact, 
that  the  Catholic  Church  can  show  an  uninterrupted 
existence  from  the  earliest  centuries  of  Christianity,  and 
that  she  always  understood  this  Scripture  in  this  way, 
and  as  proof  that  she  did  so  understand  it  shows 
throughout  her  whole  life  the  possession  of  a  head,  in 
the  unbroken  line  of  her  Pontiffs,  from  Peter  to 
Pius  X. 

No  fair  and  impartial  minds  reading  intelligently  the 
Scripture  and  then  turning  their  attention  to  the  efforts 
of  the  protestant  commentators  to  explain  it  away,  can 
fail  to  see  that  in  their  belittling  of  the  Sacred  text  they 
are  endeavoring  to  establish  doctrines  never  heard  of 
until  the  advent  of  "The  Great  Reformation."  How 
beautiful  by  contrast  seem  the  gates  of  that  fair  temple 
"whose  builder  and  maker  is  God ;"  the  infallible  Church 
which  he  declared  should  stand  firm  upon  its  founda- 
tion for  all  time,  no  matter  what  varying  winds  of  false 
doctrine  should  blow,  or  evil  passions  of  misguided  men 
threaten  to  overthrow,  and  so  it  has  stood  since  the 
Pentecostal  fire  descended  upon  the  Apostles  of  the  new 


The  Primacy  of  Peter  67 

Evangel  of  Light  and  Love,  even  to  this   day  firm  as 
the  Rock  in  its  unchangeableness. 

The  bones  of  its  martyred  missionaries  of  many 
orders,  and  in  many  centuries  of  time,  lie  on  the  shores 
of  the  world's  great  lakes  and  rivers,  in  the  forest 
glades  and  on  the  green  slopes  by  the  sounding  sea; 
and  are  turning  to  dust  in  shady  vales  and  on  flowery 
hillsides  throughout  all  countries,  among  all  nations,  and 
in  all  climes;  their  pattern  and  memory  lost  to  all  but 
the  God  whose  divine  commission  had  sent  them  into 
all  the  world  to  teach  the  nations. 


CHAPTER  IV. 
THE  SUPREMACY  OF  THE  POPES. 

From  the  primacy  of  Peter,  naturally  follows  the 
primacy  of  Peter's  successors,  the  Popes.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  imagine  any  lasting  good  accruing  to  the  Church 
from  the  possession  of  a  head  through  Peter's  primacy, 
if  at  his  death  this  necessary  authority  should  cease. 
We  need  the  court  of  final  appeal  at  Washington  now, 
as  much  as  when  first  instituted  and  why  not  the  court 
of  final  appeal  of  the  Church  which  extends  its  life 
and  membership  through  all  ages  and  into  every  quarter 
of  the  civilized  world? 

Let  us  not  ignore  the  past,  but  endeavor  to  find  by 
the  light  which  history  throws  around  the  first  ages  of 
the  Church,  if  any  circumstances  can  be  found  tending 
to  show  a  continuation  of  that  authority,  which  has  been 
shown  to  be  the  prerogative  of  Peter. 

We  have  given  elsewhere  that  great  word  painting  of 
Macaulay's,  in  which  he  traces  the  dynasty  of  the  Popes 
down  to  the  time  when  the  Saintly  Leo  went  forth  to 
meet  the  barbarian  conqueror  Attila,  A.  D.  452.  As  a 
protestant  writer,  Macaulay  found  the  safer  course,  after 
tracing  the  Papal  dynasty  down  to  the  middle  of  the 
fifth  century,  to  rid  himself  of  so  dangerous  an  incubus 
to  protestant  literature  by  abruptly  leaving  it  there,  sus- 
pended as  it  were  in  the  fading  light  of  an  evening  in 
the  "Dark  Ages,"  as  a  tale  half  told,  when  he  might 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  69 

readily  have  finished  a  story  so  well  begun  by  tracing  its 
history  to  the  Chair  of  Peter,  had  it  but  served  his  pur- 
pose so  to  do. 

It  is  but  natural,  say  our  adversaries,  that  the  City  of 
Rome,  the  great  center  of  the  Empire,  in  learning,  and 
the  arts,  the  mistress  of  the  world,  ennobled  by  the  lives 
of  St.  Paul  and  the  noble  army  of  martyrs,  whose  souls 
ascended  from  the  Flavian  Amphitheater  to  their  Maker, 
should  have  been  the  favored  spot,  where,  under  the 
sheltering  arms  of  emperors,  who  from  persecuting  had 
learned  to  adore,  should  have  grown,  from  small  begin- 
nings in  usurpation,  the  Papal  power.  Little  by  little, 
through  long  years  of  aggressive  warfare  upon  their 
weaker  brethren,  always  seeking  to  wrest  that  authority 
from  the  others  which  in  the  beginning  had  been  com- 
mon to  all,  and  in  the  furtherance  of  this  settled  pur- 
pose to  become  the  masters  of  Christendom,  x  "with  all 
the  shrewdness  and  pertinacity  which  has  ever  since 
been  their  peculiar  characteristic,"  when  the  roll-call  of 
our  great  enemy  summoned  one  Roman  Bishop, 
strangely  enough  his  successor  pursued  the  same  grasp- 
ing policy  until  at  last  the  shackles  of  their  slavery  were 
securely  fastened  upon  the  bishops  of  the  entire  world. 

Somewhat  after  this  style  our  protestant  friends  are 
accustomed  to  account  for  the  rise  and  progress  of  the 
Papal  power.  Mr.  Ranke  explains  this  momentous 
occurrence  by  saying  that,  2  "it  was  not  long  before  the 
Roman  Bishops  assumed  the  highest  rank."  Another 


1  Rank6   "Hist,  of  the  Popes,"  p.  20. 

2  Ibid.,   p.   19. 


70  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

Protestant  writer,  that,  "gradually  the  Bishops  of  Rome 
drifted  into  Popes." 

Concerning  this  brief  protestant  account,  it  will  be 
pertinent  to  remark,  that  obedience  to  a  power  and 
authority  which  is  usurped,  can  seldom  be  acquired 
without  the  force  of  arms,  and  such  obedience  which  is 
never  sincere,  can  only  be  retained  by  the  constant  dis- 
play of  like  power.  The  obedience  which  catholics 
render  to  the  Holy  See,  on  the  contrary,  is  so  free, 
voluntary  and  hearty,  as  to  preclude  the  idea  that  the 
Papal  power  is  an  assumption  only. 

Does  it  not  seem  that  if  at  the  beginning  the  apostles 
were  equal  in  authority,  that  at  a  later  date  it  would 
have  been  next  to  an  impossibility  to  fasten  upon  them 
the  yoke  of  obedience  to  one  of  their  number  without 
divine  authority? 

Christ,  the  divine  founder  of  the  Church,  the  corner 
stone  of  the  edifice,  the  ruler  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,  the  divine  Shepherd  of  the  flock  bestows  sep- 
arately and  individually  upon  one  of  his  disciples  his 
own  power,  and  calls  him  the  rock  of  the  edifice  here 
on  earth  (Matth.  xvi,  18,  19):  if  He  grants  to  that 
disciple  the  special  powers  of  the  ruler,  by  handing  to 
him  the  keys;  if  He,  as  the  Divine  Shepherd,  on  the 
eve  of  His  ascension,  commits  the  care  of  his  whole 
flock  to  that  particular  disciple  with  the  power  of  ruling, 
and  of  feeding  (John  xxi,  15,  16,  17)  what,  I  ask,  can 
be  more  evident  than  that  Christ  is  here  constituting  an 
office,  which  is  part  of  the  very  constitution  of  the 
Church,  the  necessary  condition  of  its  stability,  of  its 
strength,  and  of  its  unity?  Hence,  St.  Peter  was  placed 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  71 

by  Christ's  command  on  a  wholly  different  footing  from 
all  the  other  apostles,  if  the  Pope,  in  the  right  of  heri- 
tage, or  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  rightly  claims  to  be 
on  a  wholly  different  footing  from  all  other  Bishops. 
He  presides  over  the  whole  Church,  the  whole  flock 
of  Christ,  the  faithful,  the  Priests,  and  the  Bishops, 
while  each  Bishop's  jurisdiction  is  limited  to  the  Priests 
and  faithful  of  his  particular  Diocese.  It  is  true  that, 
as  St.  Paul  writes  to  the  Ephesians,  ch.  2,  v.  20,  the 
Church  was  built  upon  the  Apostles,  but  upon  the  Apos- 
tles as  Christ  ranked  them,  with  Peter,  their  Prince  at 
their  head,  who  is  endowed  by  him  with  special  pre- 
rogatives, exclusively  his  own.  And  the  Apostles 
received  a  universal  mission  directly  from  Christ,  nor 
had  any  of  them  to  apply  to  Peter  for  a  mandate  or 
for  authority,  though  their  authority  was  bound  up  with 
and  dependent  upon  his  own  special  supremacy.  But 
here  we  must  have  in  mind  the  fact  that,  according  to 
the  disposition  and  will  of  Christ,  the  prerogatives  of 
the  Apostles  such  as  universal  jurisdiction  and  the  gift 
of  infallibility  ceased  with  their  mortal  career,  because 
they  were  personal.  But  the  prerogatives  of  the  Apos- 
tolic Office  residing  in  Peter  could  not,  and  did  not, 
cease  with  his  life,  because  that  Apostolic  Office  in  him 
was  not  merely  personal,  but  was  established  by  Christ 
as  an  essential  and  a  necessarily  enduring  element  in  the 
very  constitution  of  the  Church.  Hence  that  special 
office,  to  be  exercised  by  Peter's  successors  must  last 
as  long  as  the  Church  herself  will  last,  namely  till  the 
end  of  time.  Moreover,  as  individual  Bishops,  unlike 
the  individual  Apostles,  have  not  received  from  God  a 


72  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

universal  mission  and  jurisdiction  in  the  world,  hence 
they  cannot  be  independent  from  their  divinely  consti- 
tuted Head  and  Prince,  the  successor  of  St.  Peter,  to 
whom  alone  it  belongs  to  determine  the  particular  por- 
tion of  the  whole  flock,  over  which  each  bishop  is  to 
exercise  the  power  received  from  the  Holy  Ghost  at  his 
consecration.  (See  the  Truth  of  the  Papal  Claims  by 
Cardinal  Raphael  Merry  Del  Val.)  Hence  the  Sover- 
eign Pontiff,  by  assigning  to  each  Bishop  his  special 
diocese  and  thus  determining  his  territorial  jurisdiction, 
does,  in  the  hierarchical  order,  what  political  rulers  do 
with  their  subjects  in  civil  matters.  Thus  in  our  country 
the  graduates  from  West  Point  and  from  Annapolis 
receive  from  the  Secretary  of  War,  or  from  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy  their  respective  commission  and 
limited  jurisdiction.  And  our  judges,  when  elected  by 
a  vote  of  the  people,  cannot  exercise  their  office  until 
they  are  assigned  by  the  State  authority  to  some  definite 
district,  outside  of  which  they  have  no  power  to  pro- 
nounce any  legal  decisions  or  to  enforce  them. 

Let  us  take  a  case  in  point.  The  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church  has  in  every  State  one  or  more  bishops.  Some 
of  these  bishops  may  have  superior  mental  qualifications, 
and  in  the  larger  and  more  populous  dioceses  a  more 
extended  field  of  influence,  but  as  to  authority,  they 
have  always  been  equals.  Suppose  now,  that  the  bishop 
of  the  city  of  New  York,  from  his  superior  qualifications 
and  the  greater  importance  of  his  diocese,  should  think 
himself  entitled  to  greater  consideration,  and  his  opin- 
ions have  more  weight  in  council  than  those  of  his  less 
gifted  brethren  of  the  Episcopate.  Having,  perhaps, 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  73 

obtained  some  concession  so  slight  as  to  escape  the  vigi- 
lance of  his  watchful  fellow  prelates,  yet  how  long  a 
time  must  elapse  before  we  should  see  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States  of  America,  in 
communion  with  the  See  of  Greater  New  York,  pre- 
senting cases  on  appeal  from  the  judgment  of  the 
bishops  of  the  other  dioceses  to  that  Supreme  See  for 
decision,  and  that  not  as  a  compliment  to  that  See  but  as 
that  See's  undisputed  right? 

It  is  of  interest  in  this  connection  to  note,  that  at  a 
council  held  in  England  in  1897,  called  the  Pan- Anglican 
Synod,  and  which  included  the  Episcopalian  Bishops  in 
the  United  States  of  America,  the  question  was  mooted 
concerning  the  great  benefit  which  would  result  to  unity, 
in  the  creation  of  the  Anglican  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, as  the  Primate  of  the  Church  of  England  and  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States.  The 
proposition  was  effectually  frowned  down  by  the  bishops 
from  this  country,  who  refused  to  part  with  any  portion 
of  their  accustomed  authority  in  order  that  a  bishop  of 
a  foreign  country  might  be  exalted  to  a  position  above 
them. 

Human  nature  is  credited  with  certain  characteristics 
which  are  unfailing;  so  in  this  spirited  refusal  of  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Bishops,  is  seen  the  reason  why 
the  Papal  Dynasty  did  not  originate  in  the  subjugation 
of  the  many  by  one,  as  protestants  have  assumed;  had 
this  been  the  case,  the  two  situations  being  similar,  a 
second  Papacy  could  have  as  easily  risen  at  this  Pan- 
Anglican  Synod  as  the  Papacy  in  the  former  instance. 

The  Synod  failed  to  secure  a  pope,  because  the  design 


74  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

was  opposed  to  human  nature,  in  that  it  necessitated 
the  giving  up  of  that  which  was  dear,  by  the  many,  for 
the  benefit  of  one.  The  Papacy,  on  the  contrary,  orig- 
inated in  the  primacy  of  Peter  at  our  Lord's  command 
to  feed  the  sheep.  It  was  not  instituted  for  the  benefit 
of  one,  but  for  the  benefit  of  many,  that  they  might 
be  kept  in  unity  and  truth,  in  one  fold  under  one 
shepherd. 

The  protestant  theory  that  it  could  have  been  possible 
for  a  head  to  finally  grow  upon  a  body  which  had  been 
headless  for  centuries,  is  a  defiance  to  the  laws  of  nature 
and  without  analogy  in  the  world  around  us.  That  it 
could  have  been  possible  for  a  man  to  have  brought 
under  his  authority  all  the  bishops  of  the  world,  and  so 
intimidated  or  charmed  them,  that  they,  as  history  af- 
firms, rendered  everywhere  the  most  willing  obedience 
when  from  the  beginning  they  had,  in  every  respect, 
been  fully  his  equals,  is  a  tale  which  in  its  entire  im- 
probability puts  to  shame  the  efforts  of  the  ablest 
romancers  of  all  time.  On  the  other  hand  what  more 
natural  than  that  the  primacy  of  Peter,  as  seen  in  the 
New  Testament,  should  have  its  sequel  in  the  Papal 
Dynasty.  The  first  is  useless  without  the  second,  the 
second  impossible  without  the  first.  As  in  the  separate 
blocks  of  a  mosaic  but  little  beauty  lies,  and  only  when 
each  separate  piece  is  placed  in  its  intended  position 
the  picture  is  brought  to  view,  so  these  two  doctrines, 
when  viewed  together,  show  the  reasonableness  and 
truth  of  both. 

At  about  the  time  that  Lord  Macaulay  finishes  his 
elaborate  pen  picture  of  the  Papal  supremacy  in  the  fifth 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  75 

century,  we  find  the  various  Teutonic  tribes  forcing 
their  way  into  Gaul.  The  most  prominent  institution 
which  they  met  in  that  country  and  which  challenged 
their  attention  and  won  their  admiration,  was  the  Cath- 
olic Church  in  communion  with  the  Roman  See.  Guizot, 
writing  of  this  period  says :  "Populations  endlessly  dif- 
ferent in  origin,  habits,  speech,  destiny,  rush  upon  the 
scene ;  and  in  this  moment  the  Christian  Church  pro- 
claims most  loudly  the  unity  of  its  teachings,  the  univer- 
sality of  its  law." 

Clovis,  king  of  the  invaders,  became  a  Christian  and 
Hassall  informs  us  that  3  "the  Franks  in  accepting  con- 
version, found  strong  support  from  the  bishops  and 
from  the  Pope  in  all  their  undertakings."  In  A.  D.  342, 
the  historian  Socrates,  writing  of  some  bishops  who  had 
been  deprived  of  their  Sees  by  the  Arians  and  had 
appealed  to  Pope  Julius  says :  4  "Accordingly  they  made 
known  their  causes  to  the  Bishop  of  Rome,  but  he  in 
virtue  of  the  prerogative  of  the  Church  of  Rome,  for- 
tified them  with  strongly  worded  letters,  and  sent  them 
back  to  the  East,  restoring  each  to  his  own  See." 

In  the  third  century  Natalius — who  had  been  made 
a  bishop  of  an  heretical  sect — 5  "being  touched  by  God's 
grace,  covered  himself  with  sackcloth,  and  shedding 
many  tears,  cast  himself  at  the  feet  of  Pope  Zephyrinus, 
and  prayed  to  be  received  into  the  communion  of  the 
Church,  which  request  was  granted." 

6  "It  was  about  the  year  158  that  the  venerable  Poly- 

3  "The  French  People,"   p.   24. 

4  Socrates,   "Ecc.  Hist,"  book  ii,   chap.   15. 

5  "Ecc.   Hist.."   Eusebius,   v,   28. 

6  "Chair  of  Peter,"   Murphy,   p.   74. 


76  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

carp,  Bishop  of  Smyrna,  a  disciple  of  St.  John,  traveled 
to  Rome  in  his  old  age,  to  confer  with  Pope  Anicetus 
about  the  time  of  celebrating  Easter."  7  "Even  at  this 
early  age,  notwithstanding  the  difficulties  and  dangers  of 
traveling,  it  was  customary  for  the  clergy  of  remote 
Churches  to  visit  Rome  and  to  confer  with  the  Popes 
on  points  of  doctrine  and  discipline.  By  these  means 
uniformity  was  preserved." 

"When  in  A.  D.  96,  there  arose  dissensions  and  divis- 
ions in  the  Church  at  Corinth,  Hegesippus  informs  us 
that  certain  persons  were  deputed  by  the  faithful  to 
represent  the  condition  of  affairs  to  the  Roman  Church, 
and  to  request  its  interposition  to  put  an  end  to  the 
schism.  And  it  is  worthy  of  note,  that,  although  St. 
John  the  Apostle  was  then  living,  the  people  of  Corinth 
did  not  apply  to  him,  but  appealed  to  the  Roman  See,  to 
exercise  its  authority  in  allaying  the  disturbances  and 
restoring  peace  to  their  Church." 

Saint  Clement,  of  whom  Saint  Paul  speaks  as  "one 
whose  name  is  in  the  book  of  life,"  was  the  reigning 
Pontiff  at  this  time,  and  wrote  8  "a  most  powerful  letter 
from  the  Church  which  is  at  Rome  to  the  Corinthians 
re-uniting  them  in  peace,  and  re-establishing  their  faith, 
and  the  tradition  which  it  had  recently  received  from 
the  Apostles." 

Clement  succeeded  Cletus  in  the  Chair  of  Peter,  and 
before  Cletus,  Pope  Linus,  A.  D.  67,  who  was  the  imme- 
diate successor  of  Peter.  Here  by  the  testimony  of  the 
early  Christian  Fathers,  the  finishing  touches  of  Macau- 

7  Ibid. 

8  Irenaeus,    "Adversus   Haereses,"   iii,   3. 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  77 

lay's  great  word  painting  of  the  Papal  Dynasty,  are 
applied  in  tracing  the  line  of  Pontiffs  to  that  disciple  to 
whom  our  adorable  Lord  gave  the  power  of  the  keys; 
the  command  to  feed  his  flock  like  a  shepherd,  and  the 
injunction  to  confirm  his  brethren. 

The  opponents  of  our  impregnable  position,  having  no 
countervailing  allegation,  must  rely  upon  their  unsup- 
ported assertion  that,  "St.  Peter  was  never  in  Rome." 

The  historian  Gibbon  says :  9  "One  hundred  years  and 
more  after  the  glorious  deaths  of  Saints  Peter  and  Paul, 
the  Vatican  and  the  Ostian  Road  were  distinguished  by 
the  tombs,  or  rather  the  trophies,  of  those  spiritual 
heroes.  In  the  age  which  followed  the  conversion  of 
Constantine,  the  emperors,  the  consuls,  and  the  generals 
of  armies,  devoutly  visited  the  sepulchres  of  a  tent- 
maker  and  a  fisherman,  and  their  venerable  bones  were 
deposited  under  the  altars  of  Christ,  on  which  the 
bishops  of  the  royal  city  continually  offered  up  the 
unbloody  sacrifice." 

Again  the  same  author  says :  10  "On  the  same  spot," 
where  St.  Peter  was  crucified,  "a  temple,  which  far 
surpasses  the  glories  of  the  Capitol,  has  been  since 
erected  by  the  Christian  pontiffs,  who,  deriving  their 
claims  to  universal  dominion  from  a  humble  fisherman 
of  Galilee,  have  succeeded  to  the  throne  of  the  Caesars, 
given  laws  to  the  barbarian  conquerors  of  Rome,  and 
extended  their  spiritual  jurisdiction  from  the  coast  of 
the  Baltic  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  Ocean." 


9  "Decline  and  Fall  of  the  Roman  Empire,"   chap,  xxviii. 

10  "Decline   and   Fall   R.    E.,"    chap.    xvi. 


78  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

That  St.  Peter  was  at  Rome,  the  ancient  Fathers 
testify  again  and  again. 

The  Anglican  Bishop  Pearson,  A.  D.  1613,  says : 
11  "When  with  such  unanimity  it  is  handed  down  to  us 
by  tradition,  from  almost  the  beginning,  that  St.  Peter 
preached  the  Gospel  at  Rome,  and  suffered  there,  and 
when  no  one  has  ever  said  that  either  Peter  or  Paul  was 
crowned  with  martyrdom  anywhere  else;  when  in  fine 
Christ  himself  signified  that  Peter  was  to  be  crucified; 
I  think  we  may  safely  attach  our  faith  to  this  history. 
For  who  would  believe  that  so  great  an  Apostle  could 
die  so  obscurely  that  no  one  should  ever  remember  the 
place  in  which  he  died?  Who  would  believe,  that,  while 
other  regions  claim  their  Apostles,  no  city,  no  region, 
no  church  should  affirm,  that  it  had  been  ennobled  by 
the  blood  of  Peter?" 

The  Christian  Father  Jerome  says :  12  Simon  Peter, 
after  presiding  as  Bishop  of  the  Church  of  Antioch,  and 
preaching  to  those  of  the  Circumcision  ...  in  the 
second  year  of  Claudius,  went  to  Rome  .  .  .  and 
there,  for  five  and  twenty  years,  he  held  his  Sacerdotal 
Chair,  until  the  fourteenth  year  of  Nero,  by  whom  being 
crucified  with  his  head  downward,  he  was  crowned  with 
martyrdom." 

Says  Father  Murphy :  13  "The  foundation  of  the 
Church  of  Rome,  and  the  establishment  of  his  pontifical 
chair  there  by  St.  Peter  has  been  celebrated  as  a  fes- 
tival by  the  universal  Church,  from  the  earliest  ages 

11  Two  Dissertations  on  the   Successions  of  the  First  Bishops  of 
Rome,  p.   42,   Bishop   Pearson. 

12  "In  Catalogo   Scriptorium  Ecclesiasticorum  in   S.   Paulo." 
is  "The  Chair  of  Peter,"   p.   63. 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  79 

of  Christianity.  ...  In  the  most  ancient  Roman 
rituals  is  to  be  found  the  following  prayer  to  be 
recited  on  that  day:  O  Almighty  God  who  by  an  in- 
effable Sacrament  didst  confer  on  thy  Apostle  Peter  the 
primacy  of  the  city  of  Rome,  whence  Evangelical  truth 
might  diffuse  itself  through  all  the  kingdoms  of  the 
world,  grant,  we  beseech  thee,  that  universal  Christen- 
dom may  devoutly  follow  that  which  from  his  preaching 
has  spread  all  over  the  world." 

The  protestant  Professor  of  History  of  Columbia  Uni- 
versity says :  14  "The  Roman  Church  was  the  only  one 
in  the  West  which  could  claim  the  distinction  of  having 
been  founded  by  the  immediate  followers  of  Christ,  two 
most  glorious  Apostles  Peter  and  Paul.  .  .  .  There 
had  always  been  moreover,  a  persistent  tradition, 
accepted  throughout  the  Christian  Church,  that  Peter 
was  the  first  Bishop  of  Rome.  The  belief  itself,  whether 
or  not  it  corresponds  with  actual  events,  is  indubitably 
a  fact,  and  a  fact  of  the  greatest  historical  importance." 

It  seems  unnecessary  to  introduce  further  evidence 
regarding  St.  Peter's  residence  and  martyrdom  in  Rome. 
There  are  those  who  are  so  permeated  with  prejudice 
that  the  overwhelming  testimony  of  history  cannot  move 
them  to  a  different  understanding,  but,  for  such,  no 
amount  of  proof  would  be  adequate. 

In  tracing  the  line  of  succession  down  to  Peter,  that 
the  reader  might  not  be  wearied,  all  excerpts  have  been 
greatly  condensed. 

In  the  first  centuries  the  infant  Churches,  few  in  num- 

14  "Hist.   Western  Europe,"  chap,   iv,  p.   49. 


80  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

bers  and  separated  by  distance,  owing  to  the  limited 
facilities  for  traveling,  generally  communicated  with  the 
Pope  by  letter.  Later,  when  the  Church  outgrew  its 
former  boundaries,  it  became  necessary  to  resort  to 
Councils  for  the  preservation  of  unity,  and  the  adjudi- 
cation of  controversies  in  regard  to  faith  and  discipline, 
which  were  likely  to  arise. 

It  is  easy  of  comprehension  that  in  the  councils  held 
in  different  parts  of  the  world,  affecting  often  the  most 
vital  principles  of  the  faith,  unity  could  only  be  pre- 
served by  an  infallible  court  of  appeal;  for,  if  in  the 
councils  held  in  widely  separated  provinces,  and  among 
different  nations,  there  should  be — as  in  fact  was  some- 
times the  case — contradictory  opinions  set  forth,  nothing 
but  confusion  would  result,  and  councils  from  proving 
a  remedy,  would  but  serve  to  aggravate  the  malady. 

The  Council  of  Nicaea,  might  thus  see  her  decisions 
reviewed  by  the  later  Council  of  Constantinople,  and 
that  Council's  decisions  again  changed  by  later  councils. 
So  the  faith  would  be  one  thing  to-day  and  quite 
another  thing  to-morrow,  and  the  shepherd  upon  retiring 
for  the  night,  would  be  in  doubt  regarding  the  faith  he 
might  be  expected  to  preach  on  the  morrow. 

The  necessity  of  a  supreme  head  is  here  clearly 
demonstrated,  and  as  our  Lord  prayed  for  Peter  alone, 
that  his  faith  might  not  fail  as  the  supreme  pastor 
who  was  to  feed  the  sheep  and  the  lambs,  shows  that  he 
recognized  this  necessity  and  provided  for  it,  and  as  his 
prayers  are  always  answered,  it  follows  that  Peter's 
faith  can  never  fail. 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  81 

15  "St.  Irenaeus,  St.  Cyprian,  St.  Jerome,  St.  Augus- 
tine— all  the  Fathers — point  to  the  Chair  of  Peter,  the 
Apostolic  See,  as  the  center  of  unity,  the  keystone  of 
the    arch    of    catholic    faith,    the    divinely    constituted 
authority  to  whose  arbitrament  all  should  bow,   whose 
ruling  all  should  unhesitatingly  accept;  and  accordingly, 
this  doctrine  has  governed  and  shaped  the  proceedings 
of  councils  from  the  early  ages  of  Christianity  down  to 
our  times." 

It  was  the  established  custom  of  the  Church,  in  the 
early  centuries,  as  ever  since,  that  the  Pope's  signature 
was  necessary  to  make  valid  the  decisions  of  councils, 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  enactments  of  Congress 
require  the  signature  of  the  President,  before  they 
acquire  the  force  of  laws. 

16  "In  the  year  416  were  held  the  Councils  of  Carth- 
age and  Milevis,  to  condemn  the  heresy  of  Pelagius  and 
his    disciple    Coelestius,    who    denied    the    necessity    of 
Divine  grace,   and  the   existence  of  original   sin.     The 
letters  of  these  Councils  to  the  Pope  St.  Innocent  I,  lay- 
ing  before   him   their   proceedings,    and   requesting   his 
confirmation  thereof,  were  drawn  up  by  St.  Augustine. 

"In  this  letter  the  Fathers  say:  'We  have  decreed, 
that  Pelagius  and  Coelestius,  the  authors  of  these  opin- 
ions, should  be  anathematized.'  They  do  not  proceed 
further  but  leave  the  execution  of  the  sentence,  they 
suggest,  to  the  Supreme  See,  continuing  as  follows: 
'Therefore  Lord  brother,  we  have  deemed  that  this 
affair  should  be  made  known  to  your  Blessedness,  in 


is  "Chair  of  Peter,"  Murphy,   p.  86. 
16  "Chair  of  Peter,"  p.  96. 


82  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

order  that  the  authority  of  the  Apostolic  See  may  be 
applied  to  our  humble  statutes,  to  secure  the  salvation 
of  many,  as  well  as  to  correct  the  perversity  of  some.' 

"In  his  reply,  St.  Innocent  commends  the  action  taken 
by  the  Fathers,  in  which  he  tells  them,  'You  have  fol- 
lowed the  ancient  rule,  which  you  know,  has  been  always 
observed  by  the  whole  world;  namely,  that  all  Eccle- 
siastical affairs  throughout  the  world  are,  by  Divine 
right  to  be  referred  to  the  Apostolic  See ;  that  is  to  St. 
Peter,  the  author  of  its  name  and  honor.'  The  reply 
of  the  Pope,  thus  confirming  the  proceedings  of  coun- 
cils had  then,  and  long  before  all  the  force  and  effect 
of  an  edict  or  law  of  the  Church." 

In  the  second  Council  of  Lyons  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury (1274),  the  following  statement  is  found:  "The 
holy  Roman  See  possesses  full  primacy  and  principality 
over  the  universal  Catholic  Church,  which  primacy,  with 
the  plenitude  of  power,  she  truly  and  humbly  acknowl- 
edges to  have  received  from  our  Lord  himself,  in  the 
person  of  Blessed  Peter,  Prince  or  Head  of  the  Apos- 
tles, whose  successor  the  Roman  Pontiff  is;  and  as  the 
Roman  See,  above  all  others,  is  bound  to  defend  the 
truth  of  faith,  so  also  if  any  questions  on  faith  arise, 
they  ought  to  be  defined  by  her  judgment." 

In  the  interests  of  brevity,  the  larger  number  of  cita- 
tions from  ancient  authors  have  been  discarded,  but 
the  few  employed,  bearing  upon  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject, ought  to  suffice  to  show  even  the  most  prejudiced, 
that  the  Roman  See  was  in  the  beginning,  as  now, 
the  center  of  unity  and  authority,  the  natural  sequence 
of  Peter's  primacy. 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  83 

You  will  search  history  in  vain  for  an  instance  where 
an  appeal  is  taken  from  the  Roman  See  to  that  of 
Corinth,  Alexandria,  Jerusalem,  or  any  other  in  exist- 
ence. The  appeal  is  always  to,  not  from,  the  Roman 
Church,  which  fact  alone  shows  it  to  be  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  Catholic  Church. 

Upon  this  subject  our  American  Cardinal  says: 
17  "Thus  we  see  that  the  name  of  the  Pope  is  indelibly 
marked  on  every  page  of  ecclesiastical  history.  The 
sovereign  Pontiff  ever  stands  before  us  as  commander- 
in-chief  in  the  grand  army  of  the  Church.  .  .  .  Are 
the  Fathers  and  Doctors  of  the  early  Church  consulted? 
with  one  voice  they  all  pay  homage  to  the  Bishop 
of  Rome  as  their  spiritual  Prince.  Is  an  Ecumenical 
Council  to  be  convened  in  the  East  or  West?  the  Pope 
is  its  leading  spirit.  Are  new  nations  to  be  converted 
to  the  faith?  there  is  the  Holy  Father  clothing  the 
missionaries  with  authority,  and  giving  his  blessing  to 
the  work." 

Says  the  Rev.  Thomas  E.  Cox :  18  "If  we  except  two 
or  three  out  of  two  hundred  and  sixty  Popes,  what 
an  illustrious  line  of  Pontiffs  may  we  not  contemplate! 
In  point  of  character  the  Papacy  towers  heaven-high 
above  any  dynasty  the  world  has  ever  seen.  There 
never  was  a  body  of  men  invested  with  power  who 
reflected  more  the  spirit  of  God  and  less  of  human 
weakness  than  the  Popes." 

If  our  adversaries  contend  that  Papal  supremacy  has 
been  denied  in  every  age,  it  may  be  answered  so  has 

IT  "Faith  of  Our  Fathers,"   Gibbons,   p.   142. 
is  "Pillar  and  Ground  of  the  Truth,"   p.   110. 


84  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

the  existence  of  God.  There  is  no  truth  of  history,  or 
science,  or  revelation,  that  has  not  again  and  again  been 
denied,  but  truth  is  still  truth  notwithstanding. 

The  standard  writers  of  history  in  our  language  in 
which  history  is  not  the  chief  object,  but  the  exhibition 
of  the  Papacy  in  the  most  unfavorable  light,  is  the 
object,  are  enabled  through  statements  confirmatory  of 
former  misstatements,  to  so  lead  the  mind  in  their  direc- 
tion as  to  more  safely  reach  the  goal  of  their  desires. 
It  is  not  in  the  bald  statement  of  historical  facts  that 
they  teach  their  lesson  and  mislead  the  reader,  but  in 
the  deductions  which,  in  pursuance  of  the  one  purpose, 
they  succeed  in  drawing  from  those  facts,  that  they 
captivate  the  reader  and  win  for  their  opinions  assent 
and  applause. 

In  protestant  histories,  the  better  to  create  an  impres- 
sion of  perfect  candor  and  fairness,  the  authors  will 
upon  occasion  spontaneously  burst  forth  in  high-sound- 
ing periods  of  fulsome  praise  for  that,  which  in  the 
main  they  so  much  affect  to  deplore  and  commiserate. 
Thus  Macaulay  has  written  in  the  essay  previously 
quoted,  many  beautiful  paragraphs,  which,  had  he  left 
no  contradictory  writings  to  annul  the  force  of,  must 
have  seemed  to  leave  him  near,  if  not  within,  the  very 
entrance  way  to  the  kingdom.  So,  in  the  lines  below, 
Mr.  Gladstone,  by  the  grandeur  of  his  theme  carried 
onward,  upward  and  out  of  himself,  and  beyond  the 
narrow  limits  of  his  inborn  prejudices,  like  the  prophet 
Balaam  of  old,  pours  forth  in  noble  strains  words  of 
praise — which  from  his  prominent  position  in  the  Angli- 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  85 

can  Church  coupled  with  the  fact  of  his  declaration  that 
"a  catholic  to  be  loyal  to  his  Church,  must  suffer  the 
forfeiture  of  mental  and  moral  freedom," — we  know  to 
have  been  but  an  oratorical  display. 

Mr.  Gladstone  says :  "The  Catholic  Church  has 
marched  for  fifteen  hundred  years  at  the  head  of  civil- 
ization, and  has  harnessed  to  her  chariot,  as  the  horses 
of  a  triumphal  car,  the  chief  intellectual  and  material 
forces  of  the  world;  her  art,  the  art  of  the  world;  her 
genius,  the  genius  of  the  world;  her  greatness,  glory, 
grandeur  and  majesty  have  been  almost,  though  not 
absolutely,  all  that  in  these  respects  the  world  has  had 
to  boast  of.  Her  children  are  more  numerous  than  all 
the  members  of  the  sects  combined ;  she  is  every  day 
enlarging  the  boundaries  of  her  vast  empire;  her  altars 
are  raised  in  every  clime,  and  her  missionaries  are  to 
be  found  wherever  there  are  men  to  be  taught  the  evan- 
gel of  immortality,  and  souls  are  to  be  saved.  And 
this  wondrous  Church  which  is  as  old  as  Christianity, 
and  as  universal  as  mankind,  is  to-day,  after  its  twenty 
centuries  of  age,  as  fresh  and  as  vigorous  and  as  fruit- 
ful as  on  the  day  when  the  Pentecostal  fire  was 
showered  upon  the  earth !" 

"The  Grand  Old  Man,"  here  indulges  in  a  strain  not 
entirely  dissimilar  to  that  of  the  other  unwilling  prophet 
who,  though  hired  to  curse,  was  forced  to  say :  19  "How 
beautiful  are  thy  tabernacles,  O  Jacob,  and  thy  tents,  O 
Israel!" 

In  the  protestant  history  of  the  Papacy,  its  most  dis- 

19  Numbers  xxiv,   5. 


86  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

interested  actions  will  be  ascribed  to  questionable  mo- 
tives. The  Pope,  according  to  these  prejudiced  writers 
will  be  found  to  be  ignorant,  dull,  turbulent,  sly  and 
crafty,  stubborn,  obtuse,  and  above  all  arrogant.  Here 
is  a  sufficiently  pleasing  indictment  against  the  old 
gentleman  who  leads  such  a  quiet  stay-at-home  life  in 
the  Vatican;  on  whom  the  burden  of  the  Church's 
government  presses  down  as  with  a  mill-stone's  weight. 
The  greatest  Potentate  on  earth.  The  Vicar  of  Christ. 
The  prisoner  of  an  earthly  King! 

Our  adversaries  are  never  weary  of  explaining  how 
impossible  it  is  for  citizens  of  a  country  to  be  sincere 
in  their  allegiance  to  its  authority,  and  at  the  same 
time  profess  obedience  to  a  foreign  power.  But  our 
civil  allegiance  is  not  divided,  and  the  "Grand  Old 
Man"  of  the  Vatican,  is  no  more  a  foreigner  to  catholics, 
than  is  Jesus  Christ. 

While  it  is  possible  to  suppose  a  case  wherein  one's 
duty  to  the  spiritual  power  might  conflict  with  that  of 
the  civil,  in  which  case  it  might  be  our  duty  to  "obey 
God  rather  than  man,"  yet  as  such  an  unfortunate  con- 
tingency has  never  arisen  in  this  country's  history,  we 
might  cease  to  feel  alarmed  on  that  account,  and  rather 
seek  to  frighten  ourselves  at  the  thought  of  a  more  prob- 
able impending  danger  in  the  destruction  of  our  planet, 
from  force  of  contact  with  some  wandering  and  irre- 
sponsible comet. 

The  spiritual  power,  having  no  weapons  but  the  spirit- 
ual ones  particularly  of  prayer,  cannot  well  persecute  the 
civil  power;  the  converse  proposition  not  holding  true. 
Thus  we  have  in  history  many  instances  of  venerable 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  87 

Pontiffs  who  were  abducted  and  imprisoned  by  some 
crafty  monarch,  and  the  property  of  the  Church  confis- 
cated. The  history  of  all  nations  abounds  in  such  occur- 
rences, as  notably  the  English  spoliation  under  Henry 
VIII  and  later  that  of  the  Papal  power  in  Italy,  and 
the  wholesale  plundering  of  the  Church  in  Mexico, 
France  and  Portugal. 

Says  Dr.  Barry :  20  "The  Church  had  gained  her  vast 
dominions  by  the  bequests  of  her  grateful  children.  On 
those  riches  Monarchs  and  nobles  had  ever  looked  with 
covetous  eyes.  ...  In  the  Middle  Ages,  that  won- 
derful machine  of  taxation  did  not  exist.  But  dues, 
charges,  impositions,  grew  with  the  growth  of  a  com- 
plex society;  and  general  causes  contributed  to  make 
the  king  a  universal  and  odious  tax-gatherer.  In  Papal 
Bulls,  no  less  than  in  English  Charters,  the  claim  of  a 
monarch  to  lay  on  exorbitant  taxes,  was  condemned 
under  the  same  anathema  which  struck  at  piracy,  or  at 
those  who  furnished  arms  to  Saracens. 

"But  especially  was  it  a  crime  to  invade  the  patrimony 
of  the  poor,  with  which  church  property  was  iden- 
tified. Not  that  the  clergy  refused  their  gifts  when  the 
country  was  in  danger.  They  gave  largely,  but  on  the 
higher  ground  of  freedom  not  of  legal  necessity.  Above 
all,  they  did  not  wish  to  be  confounded  in  one  assess- 
ment with  lay  folk,  and  thus  abandoned  to  the  mercy 
of  a  power  which,  in  pursuing  its  own  designs,  would 
show  them  scant  indulgence.  The  history  of  Europe 
proves  that  they  were  not  mistaken,  Church  property 

20  "The  Papal  Monarchy,"  William  Barry,   D.  D.,  p.   400. 


88  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

has  been  confiscated  again  and  again  to  secular  pur- 
poses, on  the  plea  of  State  necessity." 

That  the  State  owes  its  existence  to  God,  and  is 
responsible  to  him  for  the  exercise  of  its  power,  has 
been  recognized  by  all :  yet  since  "The  Great  Reforma- 
tion" has  become  seemingly  little  more  than  a  sentiment 
lightly  held  by  the  powers  that  be,  and  by  succeeding 
generations  more  and  more,  forgotten  in  the  contem- 
plation of  that  imposing  pomp  and  dazzling  light  that 
plays  'round  earthly  thrones  and  powers.  Thus  the 
spiritual  power  is  ignored,  and  in  danger  of  being  for- 
gotten, and  the  Creator  is  found  to  be  almost  a  super- 
numerary in  the  world  of  his  own  creation. 

Naturally,  one  of  the  guiding  principles  of  protest- 
antism is  that  of  devotion  to  the  civil  power  which  was 
so  largely  responsible  for  its  existence.  The  pages  of 
protestant  history,  which  contain  records  of  contests  be- 
tween the  Papacy  and  despotic  and  irreligious  princes, 
are  so  written  that  the  "arrogant"  Pope  is  always 
engaged  in  "lording  it"  over  some  meek  and  innocent 
defender  of  freedom  and  progress,  and  so  ingeniously 
worded  for  the  purpose  of  exciting  sympathy  for  the 
wrong  side  as  to  rival  the  eloquence  of  Mark  Antony 
at  the  funeral  of  Caesar. 

In  a  conflict  between  the  two  powers,  it  is  the  civil 
power  that  is  always  right.  Our  esteemed  adversaries 
are  not  more  ready  to  deny  to  the  Pope  infallibility, 
than  to  assume  it  to  be  a  prerogative  of  the  civil 
power.  Thus  protestantism,  a  child  of  the  State — 
like  the  emblem  of  fidelity  in  the  animal  kingdom — lies 
prone  at  the  feet  of  its  master,  content  to  regard  the 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  89 

kingdom  of  God  as  secondary  to  earthly  thrones  and 
powers.  There  is  no  desire  in  all  this  to  disparage,  in 
a  degree  however  slight,  the  importance  and  dignity 
of  the  civil  power.  The  powers  spiritual  and  temporal 
are  both  indispensable  and  in  efforts  at  good  govern- 
ment can  accomplish  most  by  working  hand-in-hand. 
That  country  is  best  governed  by  man,  which  is  most 
governed  by  God. 

If  our  adversaries  would  but  investigate  in  regard  to 
the  many  conflicts  that  have  occurred  between  the  Popes 
and  the  civil  power — by  the  aid  of  reliable  authorities 
who  write  history  in  the  interests  of  truth — they  would 
notice  that  the  Chief  Shepherd  stood  on  the  side  of 
justice,  mercy  and  truth ;  the  constituted  defender  of  the 
sheep  against  the  ravenous  wolves,  in  the  shape  of  "arro- 
gant" unprincipled  and  tyrannical  kings.  The  kings  of 
catholic  governments  by  the  constitution  of  the  State, 
were  as  much  the  subjects  of  the  Pontiff  in  spiritual 
things  as  the  humblest  citizen;  and  the  Pope  who  found 
it  necessary  in  the  defense  of  his  flock  to  excommunicate 
a  tyrannical  oppressor  of  the  sheep,  did  in  that  action 
only  his  obvious  duty. 

Says  Mr.  Brownson :  21  "Has  the  Pope  ever  claimed 
the  right  to  absolve  from  their  allegiance  the  subjects 
of  a  legitimate  prince,  who  reigns  justly,  according  to 
the  laws  and  constitution  of  his  state?  Never.  In  every 
such  case  he  impresses  upon  his  spiritual  children  the 
duty  of  obedience.  But  the  obligation  between  prince 
and  subject  is  reciprocal.  If  the  subject  is  bound  to 


21  "Essays  and  Reviews,"  Brownson,  p.   204. 
6 


90  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

obey  the  prince,  the  prince  is  bound  to  protect  the  sub- 
ject. .  .  .  Government  is  instituted  for  the  common 
good,  and  the  moment  it  ceases  to  consult  the  common 
good,  it  forfeits  its  rights.  .  .  . 

"Now  suppose  the  subjects  of  a  prince,  feeling  them- 
selves aggrieved,  oppressed,  complain  to  the  Holy  Father, 
the  judge  recognized  by  both  parties  in  the  case,  that 
their  prince  has  broken  the  compact,  violated  his  oath 
of  office,  and  become  a  tyrant;  suppose  the  Pope  enter- 
tains the  complaint,  and  summons  both  parties  in  the 
case,  to  plead  before  him,  and,  after  a  patient  hearing, 
gives  judgment  against  the  prince,  declares  him  to  have 
forfeited  his  rights,  and  that  his  subjects  are  absolved 
from  their  allegiance,  what  would  there  be  in  all  this 
to  which  reason  could  object?  This  is  the  kind  of  abso- 
lution the  Popes  have  granted,  and  never  have  they 
deposed  a  prince  or  absolved  his  subjects,  except  in  cases 
similar  to  the  one  here  supposed.  He  merely  declares 
the  law,  and  applies  it  to  the  facts  of  the  case  pre- 
sented. To  deny  the  right  to  resist  the  tyrant  is  to 
doom  the  people  to  hopeless  slavery ;  to  assert  it,  and  yet 
leave  to  each  individual  the  right  to  judge  of  the  time, 
the  means  and  the  mode  of  resistance,  is  disorder,  no- 
governmentism,  the  worst  form  of  despotism. 

"In  the  'Dark  Ages',  men  were  able  to  avoid  either 
alternative.  By  recognizing  the  Pope  as  umpire,  who, 
by  his  character  and  position,  as  head  of  the  Church, 
which  embraced  all  nations,  was  naturally,  not  to  say, 
divinely  fitted  to  be  impartial  and  just,  they  practically 
secured  the  right  of  resistance  to  tyranny,  without  un- 
dermining legitimate  authority." 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  91 

22  "Law,  learning,  science,  all  that  we  term  civilization 
in  the  present  social  condition  of  the  European  people," 
says  Mr.  Lang — a  protestant  writer — "spring  from  the 
supremacy  of  the  Roman  Pontiff  and  of  the  catholic 
priesthood  over  the  kings  and  nobles  of  the  Middle 
Ages.  All  that  men  have  of  civil,  political  and  religious 
freedom  in  the  present  age,  may  be  clearly  traced  in  the 
history  of  every  country  to  the  working  and  effects  of 
the  independent  power  of  the  Church  of  Rome  over  the 
property,  social  economy,  mind  and  intelligence  of  all 
connected  with  her  in  the  social  body." 

When  a  protestant  has  the  courage  to  speak  the 
truth  in  this  manly  fashion,  the  fairy  tales  of  "The 
Great  Reformation" — concerning  the  Popes — are  seen 
tumbling  down  like  houses  of  cards  at  a  breath. 

Again  the  same  author  says :  23  "The  Church  of 
Rome  was  an  independent,  distinct,  and  often  an  oppos- 
ing power  in  every  country  to  the  civil  power,  a  cir- 
cumstance in  the  social  economy  of  the  Middle  Ages,  to 
which  perhaps  Europe  is  indebted  for  her  civilization 
and  freedom." 

24  "From  the  fifth  to  the  thirteenth  century,  the  Church 
was  engaged,"  says  Canon  Farrar,  "in  elaborating  the 
most  splendid  organization,  which  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  Starting  with  the  separation  of  the  spiritual  from 
the  temporal  power,  and  the  mutual  independence  of 
each  in  its  own  sphere,  Catholicism  worked  hand-in- 
hand  with  feudalism  for  the  amelioration  of  mankind. 

22  "Observations  on  Europe,"  p.  395,   Laing,   Scotch  Presbyterian. 

23  "Notes  of  a  Traveller,"  Laing-,  p.   194. 

24  "The  Victories  of  Christianity,"   p.   115,   lect.   iii. 


92  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

"Under  the  influence  of  feudalism  slavery  became 
serfdom,  and  aggressive  was  modified  into  defensive 
war.  Under  the  influence  of  Catholicism  the  monasteries 
preserved  learning  and  maintained  the  sense  of  the 
unity  of  Christendom.  Under  the  combined  influence 
of  both  grew  up  the  lovely  ideal  of  chivalry,  moulding 
generous  instincts  into  gallant  institutions,  making  the 
body  vigorous  and  the  soul  pure,  wedding  the  Christian 
virtues  of  humility  and  tenderness  to  the  natural  graces 
of  courtesy  and  strength. 

"During  this  period  the  Church  was  the  one  mighty 
witness  for  light  in  an  age  of  darkness,  for  order  in  an 
age  of  lawlessness,  for  personal  holiness  in  an  epoch  of 
licentious  rage." 

Far  better,  it  will  always  seem  to  those  who  think 
rightly,  to  have  retained  this  old  Church  founded  by 
the  Roman  See  and  which  this  witness  declares  to  have 
been  "the  one  mighty  witness  for  light  in  an  age  of 
darkness,"  than  to  have  substituted  for  it,  one  founded 
in  an  age  of  comparative  light,  by  a  King  in  moral 
darkness  under  the  influence  of  "licentious  rage." 

Cardinal  Manning  says :  "The  supremacy  of  the  ma- 
terial over  the  moral  order  of  the  world  has  arisen  from 
the  violation  of  the  liberties  of  the  Church  of  God. 
There  was  a  time  when  some  of  the  greatest  monarchies 
had  hardly  a  standing  army;  when  the  voice  of  the 
Vicar  of  Jesus  Christ  sufficed  to  arbitrate  in  their  con- 
tentions. But  now,  more  than  four  millions  of  men  are 
perpetually  under  arms,  gazing  in  defiance  and  in  fear 
on  each  other's  motions,  waiting  to  ward  or  to  strike 
the  first  blow." 


The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes  93 

What  the  English  Cardinal  here  says,  is  but  a  simple 
outline,  a  sketch,  of  present  day  conditions.  Never 
before  were  seen  a  like  number  of  Peace  Congresses. 
Never  before  was  good  talk  more  widely  indulged  in. 
In  these  great  assemblies  in  the  interests  of  the  world's 
peace,  two  things  are  noticeable ;  first,  that  their  deliber- 
ations seem  to  reach  their  culmination  in  a  more  exten- 
sive preparation  for  war ;  second,  that  while  in  pre- 
reformation  days,  whole  nations  respected  Christ;  and 
they  also  respected  Christ's  Vicar  sufficiently  to  obey 
him,  so  that,  through  this  agency,  God  in  an  especial 
manner  ruled  the  world;  yet  in  these  gatherings  of  rep- 
resentative men,  he  who  in  the  past  could,  by  the  force 
of  unarmed  goodness  alone,  hurl  tyrants  from  their 
thrones,  arbitrate  the  cause  of  nations  and  make  all 
respect  the  interests  of  right  and  justice,  he,  the  Vicar 
of  the  Prince  of  Peace,  has  no  place  assigned  him  in 
these  deliberations,  and  no  request  to  favor  the  conclave 
with  his  presence. 

With  all  this  talk  of  peace  without  mention  of  God — 
save  in  a  casual  way  and  in  mere  compliment  as  to  an 
absent  power — the  armies  of  nations  will  still  remain  at 
"attention"  to  every  move  of  rival  powers,  ready  to  do 
battle  at  the  accidental  discharge  of  a  fire-arm,  or  the 
rapid  approach  of  a  hostile  biplane  in  the  air. 

That  catholics  in  obedience  to  the  Sovereign  Pontiff 
have  not  in  the  past  failed  to  be  patriotic,  the  names 
that  figure  in  the  world's  roll-call  of  battlefields,  and 
the  green  mounds  on  her  many  hill-sides  sufficiently 
attest.  Temporal  governments  have  recognized  these 


94  The  Supremacy  of  the  Popes 

facts,  and  may  in  time  recognize  that  other  fact,  that 
there  can  be  no  lasting  world's  peace  where  the 
authority  of  God  is  not  recognized  as  the  most  real,  the 
most  indispensable,  and  the  most  patent  of  all  facts ;  and, 
that  to  this  human  authority  is  entirely  secondary  and 
subordinate.  In  an  era  when  right  makes  might,  we  can 
alone  look  for  peace. 


CHAPTER  V. 

PAPAL  INFALLIBILITY. 

1  "For  where  Peter  is,   there  is  the   Church." 

Papal  Infallibility  naturally  follows  as  the  result  of 
the  infallibility  of  the  Church.  It  would  be  impossible 
to  think  of  an  infallible  body  as  having  a  fallible  head. 
The  head  is  the  seat  of  intelligence  for  the  whole  body. 
The  infinite  number  and  endless  variety  of  motions 
made  daily  by  the  body  and  its  several  members,  result 
from  orders  received  directly  from  the  head.  In  the 
rapid  transmission  of  these  orders  to  the  fingers — 
notably  as  in  piano  playing — should  any  inaccuracy  be 
noticed  the  cause  would  be  traceable  to  the  transmitting 
machinery,  the  nerves  and  muscles,  the  head  would 
always  be  right. 

The  infallible  teaching  of  the  Apostles  and  their  suc- 
cessors is  maintained  through  union  with  the  divinely 
appointed  head  who  was  commanded  to  feed  the  sheep. 
The  doctrine  of  Papal  Infallibility  is  as  old  as  the 
Church  over  which  Peter  presided,  were  it  not  so,  it 
could  not  have  been  defined  in  A.  D.  1870,  by  the 
Vatican  Council,  as  no  doctrine  unknown  to  the  Apos- 
tles can  later  be  made  an  article  of  faith.  The  many 
texts  of  Scripture  relied  upon  to  prove  the  primacy 

i  St.  Ambrose. 


96  Papal  Infallibility 

of  Peter  and  the  infallibility  of  the  Church,  are  equally 
serviceable  in  demonstrating  the  infallibility  of  the  Popes. 

Papal  Infallibility  is  the  accomplishment  and  ful- 
fillment of  God's  Word  and  shows  how  the  Scriptures 
were  understood  in  the  ages  prior  to  "The  Great  Re- 
formation." The  strained  and  far-fetched  interpreta- 
tions of  these  texts  as  found  in  "Barnes'  Notes  on  the 
Gospels,"  and  those  of  other  protestant  commentators, 
by  the  aid  of  private  interpretations — which  the  Scrip- 
ture prohibits — makes  the  divine  Word  to  testify  in 
their  behalf. 

It  was  the  understanding  of  the  Fathers,  writing  in 
the  first  centuries,  that  the  prerogatives  bestowed  upon 
Peter,  were  for  his  successors  also, — the  gift  of  inspira- 
tion excepted,  that  being  necessary  only  for  the  writing 
of  the  Word  once  for  all.  In  the  shepherd's  case,  how- 
ever, there  could  be  no  long  interregnum,  it  being 
necessary  that  the  sheep  should  constantly  be  fed  upon 
the  pure  Gospel.  As  a  Gospel  fallibly  interpreted  would 
not  be  pure  food  but  an  adulteration,  the  divine  assist- 
ance of  the  Holy  Ghost  promised  to  blessed  Peter,  was 
for  his  successors  also,  to  enable  them  to  feed  the  whole 
of  Christ's  flock. 

If  God,  for  the  purpose  of  revealing  his  Gospel, 
could  divinely  inspire  men,  he  could  as  well  make  them 
infallible  in  their  interpretation  of  it.  The  promise  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  to  keep  the  Church  in  all  truth,  is  but 
the  promise  of  infallibility.  When  our  brethren  there- 
fore deny  infallibility  they  admit  that  they  have  no  con- 
nection with  the  Church  of  the  Apostles.  If  the 


Papal  Infallibility  97 

protestant  churches  would  make  good  their  claim  of  "a 
right  to  live,"  they  should  be  able  to  show  their  pres- 
ence and  influence  in  the  world's  history  all  through 
the  ages  in  which  an  undivided  Church,  professing 
infallibility,  was  everywhere  dominant  in  the  affairs  of 
men,  and  in  teaching  loyalty  to  Caesar,  taught  a  more 
exalted  loyalty  to  Caesar's  God. 

Our  friends  should  be  able  to  show  what  countries 
they  civilized,  what  heathen  tribes  they  converted  to  the 
faith.  They  should  show  where  they  lay  concealed  for 
centuries  during  which  the  Catholic  Church  was  the 
only  light  which  shone  in  the  surrounding  gloom  of 
pagan  darkness.  They  should  tell  where  they  were  in 
hiding  when,  in  a  turbulent  and  lawless  age,  the  Papal 
dynasty  was  resorting,  through  necessity,  to  the  shield 
and  battle-ax  of  the  warrior  to  defend  the  sheepfold 
and  drive  those  ravenous  wolves,  the  Saracens,  back 
to  their  native  deserts,  and  in  many  a  glorious  victory 
preserving  the  Christian  faith  from  utter  annihilation ! 
They  should  show  what  history  gives  us  accounts  of 
protestant  saints  and  martyrs,  and  what  bard  sings  of 
the  glory  of  their  achievements  in  converting  nations 
to  the  faith,  in  the  ages  that  tell  of  an  Augustine,  a 
Jerome,  or  a  Gregory  the  Great.  They  should  show 
that  they  were  present  on  the  shores  of  Galilee  when 
our  Lord  commissioned  Peter  to  feed  the  sheep.  And 
more  than  this :  2  "Let  them,"  says  Tertullian,  in  the 
second  century,  "produce  the  origin  of  their  church.  Let 
them  exhibit  the  succession  of  their  Bishops,  so  that 

2  "Faith  of  Our  Fathers,"   p.   70. 


98  Papal  Infallibility 

the  first  of  them  may  appear  to  have  been  ordained 
by  an  Apostle,  or  by  an  apostolic  man  who  was  in 
communion  with  the  Apostles." 

Our  friends  of  the  "rival  churches"  can  do  none  of 
these  things,  and  being  at  a  loss  how  to  claim  an 
existence  from  the  beginning  and  a  consequent  par- 
ticipation in  the  promises  made  in  the  Gospel  to  the 
Church  primitive,  have  been  obliged  to  resort  to  the 
ingenious,  if  not  ingenuous,  theory  of  an  Invisible 
Church!  What!  an  invisible  church  to  do  a  visible 
work  among  men,  to  instruct,  to  guide,  to  reprove,  con- 
vert nations,  civilize  the  world,  fight  the  enemies  of 
the  faith,  defend  the  sheepfold,  feed  the  sheep?  Why, 
our  Lord's  Church  was  likened  to  a  city  set  upon  a  hill, 
a  light  to  the  Gentiles,  its  ministers,  a  flaming  fire 
preaching  salvation  from  its  watch-towers,  that  all  from 
far  and  near  might  hear. 

Had  any  adherents  of  this  invisible  church  been 
present  in  their  unreal  and  invisible  entity  when  Peter 
was  commissioned  to  feed  the  sheep,  they  must  have 
become  visible  long  enough  to  have  uttered  a  ringing 
protest  against  the  appointment.  The  concealment  of 
the  protestant  churches  was  complete  for  fifteen  cen- 
turies, and  the  resounding  fearful  cry  from  the  Roman 
Amphitheater  of  "the  Christians  to  the  lions,"  failed 
to  penetrate  the  confines  of  their  abiding  place.  An 
invisible  church,  with  its  invisible  work,  was  not  the 
kind  needed  in  those  days.  God's  kingdom  on  earth 
has  a  visible  existence,  because  it  has  a  visible  work 
to  do.  There  is  no  record  in  history  of  so  much  as 
one  heathen  nation,  or  even  of  one  small  island  of  the 


Papal  Infallibility  99 

seas,  whose  inhabitants  were  civilized  by  an  invisible 
church,  and  by  it  converted  to  Christianity.  If  then  it 
be  true  that  3  "by  their  fruits  you  shall  know  them," 
the  invisible  church  must  be  but  a  figment  of  the  protest- 
ant  brain. 

The  promise  of  the  Holy  Ghost  to  the  Church,  could 
have  been  made  only  to  the  Church  then  in  existence. 
Protestants  were  not  then  in  existence  and  therefore 
were  not  concerned  with  the  promise.  Furthermore 
they  show  no  fruits  which  result  from  the  gift  of  divine 
assistance,  for  they  repudiate  all  connection  with  the  doc- 
trine of  Infallibility,  and  have  no  experimental  knowl- 
edge of  unity,  which  two  are  among  the  principal  fruits 
resulting  from  the  presence  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  the 
Church. 

In  virtue  of  the  divine  assistance  promised  him  in 
Blessed  Peter,  the  Roman  Pontiff,  when  defining  from 
the  Chair  of  Peter  a  doctrine  concerning  faith  or  morals, 
is  preserved  from  error.  Any  opinion  which  the  Pope 
may  express  verbally  or  in  writing  upon  any  subject  not 
connected  with  the  two  mentioned,  would  be  valuable 
only  as  his  information  upon  that  subject  entitled  him 
to  consideration  as  an  authority.  The  opinions  of  a 
judge,  upon  questions  of  law,  when  not  upon  the  bench, 
have  no  more  judicial  significance  than  those  of  any 
other  person.  In  like  manner  it  is  possible  that  in  ex- 
pressing his  private  opinion  upon  subjects  regarding 
faith  and  morals,  a  Pope  may  err. 

Our  Lord  knowing  well  that  as  time  in  its  onward 

a  Matt,  vii,   16. 


ioo  Papal  Infallibility 

march  down  the  centuries,  would  carry  farther  and 
farther  away  the  scene  of  his  life  and  sufferings  from 
the  memory  of  succeeding  generations  of  men,  and  that 
doubt  and  unbelief  would  take  possession  of  the  mind, 
and  strange  opinions — the  result  in  large  part  of  pride 
and  conceit, — come  to  dwell  in  the  mind  and  usurp  the 
place  of  faith — promised  the  Holy  Ghost  *  "to  teach  all 
things,  and  bring  all  things  to  mind."  Our  Lord  fore- 
told that  5  ravenous  wolves  would  come  in  sheep's  cloth- 
ing— false  teachers  who  would  pervert  the  faith  of  the 
flock  under  the  pretence  of  leading  them  into  new  and 
greener  pastures.  What  remedy  would  most  naturally 
occur  even  to  the  human  mind  in  such  a  necessity? 
Surely  it  would  be  to  appoint  a  Chief  Shepherd  to  feed 
the  sheep  and  to  keep  him  by  divine  assistance  in  all 
truth.  In  no  other  way  could  the  sheep  be  so  effectually 
guarded  from  the  figurative  wolves  of  error,  as  by  pre- 
serving the  Chief  Shepherd  from  the  possibility  of  teach- 
ing it. 

It  was  not  an  accident  that  our  Lord — whose  prayers 
were  always  heard — 6  prayed  for  Peter  that  his  faith 
might  not  fail,  but  it  was  a  part  of  the  original  design 
for  providing  his  Church  with  an  unerring  head.  It 
is  well  to  keep  in  mind  when  reading  history,  that  Popes 
have  been  called  upon  at  different  times  to  act  in  a 
variety  of  capacities.  So  when  we  read  that  in  the  early 
Christian  centuries,  Popes,  by  common  consent  acted  as 
the  arbiters  between  princes,  hurled  anathemas  at  here- 

4  John  xiv,   26. 

5  Matt,  vii,  15. 

fi  Luke  xxii,   31-32. 


Papal  Infallibility  101 

tics,  and  laid  under  the  ban  of  an  interdict  the  domains 
of  some  arrogant  king;  we  must  understand  that  in 
all  these  and  similar  acts,  there  is  no  assumption  of  In- 
fallibility, as  the  Popes  in  these  instances  acted  in  the 
private  capacities  of  doctors,  sovereigns,  or  as  arbi- 
trators by  request,  in  many  ways  rendering  the  greatest 
service  to  mankind,  discouraging  the  arbitrament  of 
arms,  and  preaching  to  the  world  the  Gospel  of  Peace. 

In  the  following  hypothetical  case,  may  be  seen  the 
practical  working  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  Universal 
Church,  whereby  she  maintains  in  her  decisions  a  per- 
fect unity  of  belief  among  the  numerous  and  diversified 
nations  of  the  earth.  Let  it  be  supposed  that  among  the 
believers  of  Catholic  doctrine  a  diversity  of  opinion 
should  arise  regarding  some  point  of  belief  not  yet 
defined.  The  Pope  very  likely  would  obtain  the  opinions 
of  his  cabinet  of  advisers,  the  Cardinals ;  what  views 
the  ancient  Fathers  had  expressed  would  be  carefully 
noted,  and  such  other  means  of  enlightenment  as  the 
Holy  Ghost  might  suggest  to  the  Pope's  mind  would  be 
made  use  of,  as  when  of  old  the  Apostles  wrote,  "it 
seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost  and  to  us." 

If  the  subject  under  consideration  was  of  sufficient 
gravity  and  importance  to  make  a  definition  necessary, 
the  Pope  might  call  a  Council  of  the  Bishops  of 
Christendom;  and  the  question  be  made  the  subject  of 
profound  study  and  patient  investigation  by  all,  accom- 
panied by  the  frequent  offering  up  of  the  Holy  Sac- 
rifice with  other  prayers  for  divine  guidance.  Finally, 
when  having  with  such  care  and  diligence  made  use  of 
every  known  means  of  enlightenment,  the  Pontiff,  with 


IO2  Papal   Infallibility 

the  promised  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  announces,  from 
the  Chair  of  Peter,  his  judgment  to  the  Church  Uni- 
versal, his  decision  is  Infallible. 

The  definition  of  faith,  made  with  such  care,  while 
its  original  scope  may  he  enlarged  upon  and  more  clearly 
brought  out  by  succeeding  incumbents  of  the  Chair  of 
Peter,  can  never  be  reversed.  Thus  while  the  Church 
may,  and  does  grow,  she  can  never  change.  The  doc- 
trines taught  by  the  Apostles  are  the  doctrines  taught 
to-day;  and,  because  the  teaching-  of  the  Apostles  was 
infallible  truth,  no  revision  of  their  statements  will  be 
witnessed  in  any  coming  age.  The  doctrine  of  faith 
has  not,  says  Leo  XIII.  "been  proposed  like  a  philo- 
sophical invention  to  be  perfected  by  human  ingenuity, 
but  has  been  delivered  as  a  divine  deposit  to  be  faith- 
fully kept  and  infallibly  declared." 

The  Church  spares  no  pains  to  ascertain  the  will  of 
God  to  men.  T  "At  the  Council  of  the  Vatican  in  1870." 
says  Father  Murphy,  "there  were  seven  hundred  bishops 
from  all  parts  of  the  earth :  the  representatives  of  more 
than  thirty  nations  and  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-five 
millions  of  Christians.  It  was  said  to  have  been  a  sub- 
lime spectacle  to  see  the  cardinals,  primates,  archbishops. 
and  bishops,  for  two  whole  hours  moving  up  to  the 
throne  to  kiss  the  Gospel  and  openly  make  profession 
of  one  common  faith,  in  communion  with  the  one  Su- 
preme Pastor  and  Teacher  of  all." 

If  with  divine  assistance,  together  with  the  combined 
learning  of  such  a  number  of  eminent  men  with  the 
light  of  nearly  twenty  centuries  of  faith  to  guide  them, 

:  "Chair  of   Peter."   Murphy,   p.   4 


Papal  Infallibility  103 

the  true  meaning  of  the  Bible  could  not  be  found,  it 
woukl  be  strange  indeed,  and  all  the  more  so,  when  it 
is  seen  with  what  ease  and  confidence  supreme  the 
pious  protestant  cobbler  on  his  bench,  in  virtue  of  his 
own  personal  infallibility  defines  and  defies  dogmatic 
truth  with  a  recklessness  inspired  wholly  by  a  lack  of 
knowledge  of  the  subject;  our  wonder  must  increase 
until  the  infallibility  of  the  Pope  seems  but  a  cheap  and 
feeble  imitation  in  comparison. 

If  inquiry  be  made  of  the  past,  the  testimony  in 
favor  of  Papal  Infallibility  win  be  found  in  every  age 
to  be  conclusive  in  establishing  it  as  a  fact  beyond  dis- 
pute. •  " At  the  Third  General  Council  held  at  Ephesos, 
A.  D.  431,  the  Pope's  legate  declared,  that  "no  one 
doubted,  nay  that  it  was  known  to  all  ages,  that  Peter, 
the  Prince  of  the  Apostles  and  foundation  of  the  Church, 
had  received  from  Christ  the  keys  of  the  kingdom, 
and  the  power  of  binding  and  loosing,  and  that  now 
and  ever  he  both  lives  and  judges  in  his  successors." 
St.  Leo  I  says:  *"St.  Peter  ceases  not  to  preside  over 
his  own  See;  and  unfailing  he  enjoys  association  with 
the  Eternal  Priest;  for  that  solidity  which,  when  he 
was  made  a  rock,  he  received  from  the  rock  Christ, 
has  transmitted  itself  to  his  heirs.'9  Tertuflian  writing 
in  the  second  century  says:  ""Was  anything  hidden 
from  Peter,  who  was  called  the  rock,  on  which  the 
Church  was  to  be  built,  who  obtained  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven,  and  the  power  of  loosing  and  bind- 


104  Papal  Infallibility 

ing,  in  heaven  and  on  earth  ?"  And  again :  1X  "If  thou 
thinkest  that  heaven  is  still  closed,  remember  that  the 
Lord  left  the  keys  thereof  to  Peter,  and  through  him 
to  the  Church." 

These  excerpts  from  the  Fathers  show  that  what  was 
bestowed  upon  Peter,  was  for  the  good  of  his  successors 
as  well  and  if  "nothing  was  hidden  from  Peter,"  then 
he  must  have  known  and  taught  the  truth,  the  whole 
truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth,  and  therefore  both  he 
and  his  successors  were  Infallible. 

The  belief  of  the  Fathers  was,  that  Peter  was  the 
Prince  of  the  Apostles,  and  the  Head  Shepherd  of  the 
entire  flock;  that  he  occupied  the  Apostolic  Chair  at 
Rome,  the  source  of  sacerdotal  unity,  with  which  Church 
12  "the  faithful  everywhere  were  bound  to  agree,"  and 
only  those  13  "in  communion  with  that  Bishop,  were  in 
communion  with  the  Catholic  Church."  14  "Therefore 
you  cannot  deny,"  says  St.  Optatus  in  the  fourth  century, 
"that  you  know  that  in  the  city  of  Rome  was  first 
established  by  Peter  the  Episcopal  Chair  in  which  sat 
Peter,  the  head  of  all  the  Apostles,  .  .  .  that  in 
this  one  chair  unity  might  be  preserved  by  all;  but  that 
he  should  be  a  schismatic  and  sinner,  who  against  this 
one  chair  should  set  up  another." 

He  then  gives  the  list  of  the  Roman  bishops  suc- 
ceeding Peter  to  the  then  reigning  Pope,  and  continu- 
ing says  that,  15  "the  schismatics  are  outside  the  Catholic 

11  Scorpiace,  n.  10. 

12  Irenaeus,    "Adversus  Haeresos,"   lib.   iii,   cap.   i. 
is  St.   Cyprian  Epistola,   52. 

1 1  Optati  Milevitani   Opera,    lib.    ii. 
is  Ibid.,  p.   49. 


Papal  Infallibility 

Church,  because  none  of  their  bishops  communicate 
with  the  same  Roman  Chair;"  and  he  alludes  to  the 
keys  given  to  Peter,  "our  chief,  to  whom  Christ  said 
'I  will  give  to  thee  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
and  the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  them.' 
Whence  is  it,  then,  that  you  strive  to  usurp  to  your- 
selves the  keys  of  the  kingdom,  you  who  sacrilegiously 
wage  war  against  the  Chair  of  Peter,  by  your  presump- 
tion and  audacity?" 

Here  in  the  testimony  of  the  Fathers  of  the  first 
ages  of  the  Church,  we  have  the  complete  refutation  of 
the  errors  of  the  protestant  commentators,  who  tell  us 
that  "Peter  was  not  the  prince  of  the  Apostles ;  that  he 
was  never  in  Rome ;  that  Jesus  had  no  thought  of  Peter's 
successors;"  that  "he  was  never  Bishop  of  Rome;"  that 
"he  had  no  more  to  do  with  the  founding  of  the 
Church  of  Rome  than  St.  Paul,"  and  that  it  is  altogether 
a  vain  assumption,  that  the  Church  should  need  a  head. 

Now  how  are  protestants  able  to  efface  from  their 
minds  this  authentic  testimony  of  men  living  at  the 
time,  who  saw  the  foundation  of  the  Church,  assisted 
in  teaching  its  doctrines,  and  knew  all  about  it  there 
was  to  know?  By  recourse  to  the  Bible  as  each  one 
understands  it,  and  which  enables  any  proposition  to  be 
proven  from  it  that  a  controvertist  may  desire,  and 
which  proof  is  in  like  manner  susceptible  of  further 
controversy  by  an  opponent  who  has  the  same  right 
of  private  interpretation;  thus  preventing  any  dispute 
concerning  doctrine  from  ever  receiving  a  definite 
solution. 

To  whom   should   we  go  to  find   what  the   primitive 


106  Papal  Infallibility 

Church  taught,  but  to  the  primitive  Christians  them- 
selves? Their  writings  are  ample  and  clear,  and  our 
adversaries  have  ever  professed  a  great  respect  for  the 
Church  of  the  first  five  centuries,  before  what  they  call 
the  "great  falling  away  and  the  advent  of  Popery." 
But  all  these  Fathers  of  these  centuries,  the  venerable 
Polycarp,  pupil  of  St.  John  the  Apostle,  Augustine, 
Cyprian,  Jerome,  Basil,  all  in  their  writings  testify  to 
the  supremacy  and  Infallibility  of  Peter  and  his  suc- 
cessors, and  are  incontrovertible  witnesses  against  the 
protestant  theory  and  teaching. 

The  great  protestant  writer  Leibnitz  16  says :  "When 
therefore  Almighty  God  established  his  church  upon 
earth,  as  a  sacred  city  placed  upon  a  mountain,  his 
immaculate  spouse,  and  the  interpretress  of  his  will,  and 
enjoined  that  throughout  the  whole  world  her  unity 
should  ever  be  maintained,  and  ordered  that  she  should 
be  heard  by  all  under  pain  of  being  confounded  with 
heathens  or  publicans,  it  follows  that  he  should  establish 
a  mode  by  which  the  will  of  the  church,  the  interpretress 
of  the  Divine  Will,  might  be  known.  And  this  was 
"shown  by  the  Apostles,  who  represented  the  body  of  the 
church  in  the  beginning.  For  they,  the  Council  of 
Jerusalem  being  assembled,  explaining  their  decision  said, 
'It  hath  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Ghost  and  to  us.' 
Nor  did  this  privilege  of  the  Holy  Ghost  assisting 
the  church  cease  on  the  death  of  the  Apostles,  but  it 
ought  to  endure  to  the  consummation  of  the  world,  and 


16  Leibnitz,  dying  in  1716,  in  his  seventieth  year,  left  this  manu- 
script written  by  his  own  hand.  The  original  in  Latin  can  be 
found  in  the  "Chair  of  Peter,"  by  J.  N.  Murphy,  p.  501-2. 


Papal  Infallibility  107 

in    the   whole   body   of   the   church    it   was   propagated 
through  the  bishops,  as  the  successors  of  the  Apostles. 

"But  as  a  council  cannot  continuously  nor  frequently 
be  held,  for  the  bishops  cannot  often  be  absent  from 
the  flocks  over  which  they  preside,  and  yet  the  church 
should  personally  exist  and  subsist  in  order  that  her  will 
should  be  known,  it  follows,  by  the  Divine  law  itself, 
and  by  the  very  memorable  words  of  Christ  addressed  to 
Peter — when  he  specially  committed  to  him  the  keys  of 
the  kingdom  of  heaven,  and  likewise  when  three  times 
he  emphatically  commended  to  him  his  sheep  to  be  fed — 
that  it  was  insinuated  and  believed  in  the  church,  that 
one  among  the  Apostles  and  one  successor  of  him  among 
the  bishops,  should  be  endowed  with  greater  power,  in 
order  that  through  him,  as  a  visible  centre  of  unity,  the 
body  of  the  church  might  be  bound  together;  the  com- 
mon necessity  might  be  provided  for;  if  indeed,  a  coun- 
cil might  be  convoked,  and  when  convoked,  directed ; 
and  in  the  intervals  of  councils  it  might  be  possible  to 
take  measures  that  the  interests  of  the  faithful  should 
not  suffer. 

"And  when  the  ancients  continuously  hand  down  the 
tradition  that  in  the  city  of  Rome,  the  capital  of  the 
world,  Peter  the  Apostle  governed  the  church  and 
suffered  martyrdom,  and  designated  his  successor,  nor 
did  any  other  bishop  ever  come  in  that  manner,  we 
acknowledge  with  good  reason  the  Roman  Bishop  to  be 
the  prince  of  the  rest.  Therefore  this  at  least  ought 
to  be  certain,  that,  in  all  things  which  would  not  bear 
the  delay  of  a  General  Council,  or  are  not  sufficiently 
important  for  a  General  Council,  the  Prince  of  Bishops, 


io8  Papal  Infallibility 

or  the  Supreme  Pontiff,  has  meanwhile  the  same  power 
as  the  whole  church ;  that  through  him  any  one  can  be 
excommunicated  and  restored,  and  that  to  him  all  the 
faithful  owe  true  obedience,  of  which  the  force  goes 
to  the  extent,  that,  as  far  as  an  oath  is  to  be  kept  in 
all  things  which  can  be  observed  with  the  safety  of 
one's  soul,  so  also  to  the  Supreme  Pontiff,  as  the  one 
visible  Vicar  of  God  on  earth,  obedience  is  to  be  ren- 
dered in  all  things,  which  we,  examining  ourselves, 
judge  can  be  done  without  sin  and  with  a  safe  con- 
science, so  far  that,  in  doubtful  matters,  other  things 
being  equal,  obedience  is  to  be  considered  safer;  and 
this  is  to  be  done  through  love  of  the  unity  of  the 
church,  and  in  order  that  we  may  obey  God  in  those 
whom  he  has  sent.  For  we  ought  to  suffer  anything 
more  willingly,  even  with  great  loss  to  ourselves,  than 
be  dissevered  from  the  church  and  give  cause  for 
schism." 

17  "The  doctrines  of  papal  supremacy  and  infallibility," 
says  Sidney  Smith,  "are  neither  unreasonable  nor  ex- 
travagant. If  they  are  true,  a  means  has  been  provided 
of  maintaining  the  Christian  people  in  the  bonds  of  unity 
which  is  simple  and  easy  of  application,  and  at  the  same 
time  in  harmony  with  the  nature  of  man.  If  they  are 
not  true  the  inevitable  result  must  be  what  we  find  to 
be  in  fact  wherever  the  pope's  authority  is  not  acknowl- 
edged ;  indifferentism  in  place  of  a  common  faith ;  in- 
numerable schisms  in  place  of  sacramental  inter-com- 
munion, religious  anarchy  in  place  of  ecclesiastical  order. 
There  is  then  the  strongest  presumption  that  the  system 

ir  Rev.   Sidney  F.   Smith. 


Papal  Infallibility  109 

which  the  two  doctrines  represent  is  that  which  our 
Lord  established,  since  otherwise  He  would,  have  made 
himself  responsible  for  all  the  horrors  which  good  people 
deplore.  This  is  the  first  conclusion  which  has  been 
arrived  at. 

"A  second  is  that  the  evidence  yielded  by  Scripture 
and  ecclesiastical  history,  when  interpreted  according  to 
the  laws  of  right  reason,  points  exactly  in  the  same 
direction.  It  shows  that  our  Lord  has  ordained  what 
we  should  have  expected  him  to  ordain.  These  two 
things,  the  presumption  and  the  proof,  should  be  con- 
sidered together.  Through  their  harmony  each  adds 
strength  to  the  other.  They  are  like  the  strands  of  a 
rope  which  gain  strength  from  being  intertwined. 

"There  is  no  desire  on  the  part  of  catholics 
to  evade  a  single  one  of  the  difficulties  which  can  be 
brought  against  the  doctrines  and  institutions  they 
believe  to  be  divine.  On  the  contrary  there  is  the 
greatest  desire  to  deal  with  them  all  solidly  and 
thoroughly,  so  that  every  impediment  may  be  cleared 
away  from  the  path  of  those  who  are  anxious  to  find  the 
truth." 


CHAPTER  VI. 
THE  BIBLE. 

As  stated  in  chapter  third,  it  is  the  infallible  Church 
which  first  claims  our  attention,  and  from  which  author- 
ity later  on  we  receive  the  complete  Scriptures  as  the 
divinely  inspired  word  of  God.  The  genuineness  of  all 
written  documents  must  be  established  by  reputable  wit- 
nesses; it  being  an  axiom  of  reason  and  law,  that  no 
writing  or  book  can  authenticate  itself.  The  only  wit- 
ness competent  to  prove  the  inerrancy  of  the  Bible  is 
the  infallible  Church,  which  was,  at  least  as  far  as  the 
New  Testament  was  concerned,  a  prior  fact  in  history. 

The  Bible,  if  received  by  protestants,  must  be  accepted 
upon  the  testimony  of  the  witness  known  as  the  Catholic 
Church.  This  Church,  at  the  Council  of  Carthage  in  the 
fourth  century  decided  by  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
promised  by  our  Lord  to  keep  the  Church  in  all  truth — 
which  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  were  Canon- 
ical, and  which  of  several  Gospels  and  Epistles  extant 
in  different  parts  of  the  world  were  inspired  writings 
and  which  were  not.  This  decision  was  approved  by 
Rome. 

In  the  Catholic  Church  the  Bible  has  remained  most 
carefully  preserved  and  honored  as  the  Book  of  books, 
the  word  of  God,  and  whose  pages — since  the  art  of 
printing  made  it  possible — have  been  open  to  all,  who 
with  due  reverence  desired  to  read  them. 


The  Bible  in 

"To  the  intent  that  none  should  have  occasion  to 
misconstrue  the  true  meaning  thereof,  it  is  to  be  thought 
that,  if  all  men  were  good  and  catholic  then  were  it 
lawful,  yea  and  very  profitable  also,  that  the  Scripture 
should  be  in  English,  as  long  as  the  translations  were 
true  and  faithful.  .  .  .  And  that  is  the  cause  that 
the  clergy  did  agree — as  it  is  in  the  Constitution  Pro- 
vincial, that  the  Bibles  that  were  translated  into  English 
before  Wycliffe's  days  might  be  suffered;  so  that  only 
such  as  had  them  in  handling  were  allowed  by  the 
Ordinary  and  approved  as  proper  to  read  them  and  so 
that  their  reading  should  be  only  for  the  setting  forth 
of  God's  glory." 

It  will  be  noticed,  in  this  ancient  discourse,  that  there 
must  have  been  at  this  time  some  restrictions  placed 
upon  Bible  reading.  Wycliffe  had,  with  the  assistance 
of  other  reformers,  made  a  translation  of  some  parts 
of  the  Bible,  which,  under  the  pretext  of  giving  the 
same  to  the  people,  was  to  be  used  in  a  warfare  against 
the  Catholic  Church. 

To  deceive  the  simple  and  the  unstable — who,  in  their 
composition  and  make-up,  seem  near  akin  to  the 
weather-cock  that  from  its  point  of  vantage  changes 
front  with  every  passing  breeze — many  novelties  and 
corruptions  of  the  Sacred  Text,  had  with  great  care, 
been  introduced.  The  pastors  naturally  forbade  their 
flocks — not  to  read  the  Scriptures,  but  Wycliffe's  false 
translation  of  them. 

From  a  mole-hill  so  small,  protestants  have  sought  to 
build  a  mountain.  There  never  was  a  time,  when  and 


ii2  The  Bible 

where,   "men   good   and   catholic,"   could   not   read   the 
Bible  as  much  as  they  desired. 

His  Holiness  Pius  VI  in  a  letter  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Florence,  says :  "At  a  time  that  a  vast  number  of 
bad  books,  which  grossly  attack  the  Catholic  Religion, 
are  circulated  even  among  the  unlearned,  to  the  great 
destruction  of  souls,  you  judge  exceedingly  well,  that  the 
faithful  should  be  excited  to  the  reading  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures :  For  these  are  the  most  abundant  sources 
which  ought  to  be  left  open  to  every  one  to  draw  from 
them  purity  of  morals  and  of  doctrine,  to  eradicate  the 
errors  which  are  so  widely  disseminated  in  these  corrupt 
times." 

In  the  fourth  century,  by  order  of  Pope  Damasus,  the 
Bible  was  translated  by  St.  Jerome  into  Latin,  which 
language  was  then  universal  throughout  the  entire  civil- 
ized world.  In  England,  we  see  in  the  eighth  century 
the  venerable  Bede,  engaged  in  translating  the  Scrip- 
tures into  the  Saxon  tongue  which  was  the  language  of 
the  country  at  that  time. 

1  We  have  seen  that  before  Luther  ever  saw  the  light, 
there  were  numerous  translations  of  the  Bible  in  the 
German  language.  The  library  of  the  Paulist  Fathers 
of  New  York  City  contains  a  copy  of  the  ninth  edition 
of  the  Bible  in  high  German,  profusely  illustrated  with 
colored  wood  engravings,  and  printed  by  Antonius  Co- 
burger  the  year  in  which  Luther  was  born. 

"The  Catholic  Church  has  the  highest  reverence  for 
the  Bible  because  it  is  the  Word  of  God.     By  her  laws 

1  Introduction. 

2  San  Francisco  Monitor,   Mar.  19,   1898. 


The  Bible  113 

she  obliges  her  clergy  to  study  it.  By  the  instructions 
of  Popes  and  Bishops  she  urges  the  laity  to  read  it. 

"The  writings  of  her  Saints  and  great  teachers  are 
full  of  passages  pointing  out  the  priceless  treasure  we 
possess  in  the  Bible,  and  insisting  on  the  duty  of  its 
reverent  study.  The  Catholic  Church  and  only  the 
Catholic  Church  ever  really  taught  the  Bible  to  the 
people,  and  for  this  purpose  she  employed  painting, 
poetry,  music,  sacred  plays  and  the  ceremonial  of  her 
sacred  services.  By  these  means  the  people,  very  few 
of  whom  could  read,  were  made  familiar  with  the 
Bible  story  and  teaching.  The  reformers  swept  away 
all  these  things,  and  thus  deprived  the  people  of  their 
only  means  of  becoming  acquainted  with  the  Word  of 
God.  Hence  the  reformers  instead  of  giving  the  Bible 
to  the  people  took  it  away  from  them. 

"For  twelve  hundred  years  the  Church  never  inter- 
fered with  the  reading  of  the  Bible,  and  when  since 
that  time  she  has  condemned  particular  translations, 
it  was  because  they  were  not  the  Word  of  God." 

The  labor  bestowed  upon  the  Bible,  by  the  monks  of 
the  first  Christian  centuries,  in  writing  it  word  for  word, 
and  by  the  committal  of  large  portions  of  it  to  memory, 
together  with  the  fact  that  "they  wrote  and  thought, 
and  talked  in  the  very  language  of  the  Scriptures," 
shows  the  value  placed  upon  the  Bible  by  the  Catholic 
Church. 

The  theory  of  protestants  that  the  Bible  alone  is  the 
rule  of  faith,  seems  not  to  square  with  the  facts  con- 
cerning the  Church's  establishment.  If  we  examine  the 
Scriptures  with  care,  we  cannot  fail  to  reach  the  con- 


ii4  The  Bible 

elusion  that  our  Lord  did  not  intend  his  religion  to 
be  exclusively  a  book  religion.  When  our  divine  Master 
had  finished  his  earthly  ministry,  he  ascended  into  heaven 
without  leaving — so  far  as  we  know — the  smallest  scrap 
of  his  writing  upon  earth,  but  we  do  find  the  command 
to  teach  all  nations  by  word  of  mouth :  than  this,  there 
could  be  nothing  more  plain  and  direct. 

The  happy  results  attending  the  introduction  of  the 
Christian  religion,  seem  not  to  have  been  dependent 
upon  the  reading  of  the  Bible  3  "But  in  course  of  time 
circumstances  arose  in  which  the  Apostles  thought  it 
necessary  to  commit  portions  of  Christian  revelation  to 
writing.  Errors  arose  and  these  errors  might  be  best 
refuted  by  an  Epistle;  .  .  .  Thus  the  books  of  the 
New  Testament  were  written  as  inspired  by  the  Holy 
Ghost.  There  is  not  the  slightest  ground  for  believing 
that  they  were  to  contain  all  the  truths  of  Christian 
revelation,  or  that  they  were  to  take  the  place  of  the 
living  voice  of  the  Church." 

Protestants  nearly  go  into  convulsions  at  the  thought 
of  believing  anything  not  contained  in  the  Bible,  but 
as  St.  John  says,  "the  world  itself  .  .  .  would  not 
be  able  to  contain  the  books  that  should  be  written" 
concerning  those  things  which  Jesus  did ;  then  it  follows 
that  the  Bible  does  not  contain  the  entire  word  of  God. 
And  yet,  of  that  portion  of  God's  word  contained  in 
the  Bible,  our  friends  are  by  no  means  panic-stricken  at 
the  thought  of  "rejecting"  many  "hard  and  rigid"  doc- 
trines, which  subject  the  natural  mind  of  fallen  hu- 
manity to  a  yoke  at  once  galling  and  distasteful,  and 

3  San   Francisco  Monitor,   Vol.   xlvi,   No.   1. 


The  Bible  115 

the  burden  of  which  is  the  reverse  of  sweetness  and 
light.  Though  retaining  the  word  in  their  articles  of 
belief,  many  protestants  have — if  we  may  judge  from 
their  backwardness  in  teaching  it,  practically  banished 
from  their  faith,  as  a  grim  specter  of  the  past,  the  Bible 
doctrine  of  hell. 

Protestants  read  the  command  "confess  your  sins  one 
to  another,"  and  reply  "who  can  forgive  sins  but  God;" 
as  they  seldom  or  never  observe  the  command,  their 
objection  must  be  regarded  by  themselves  as  conclusive 
of  the  matter,  yet  this  objection  is  identically  the  same 
as  that  made  by  the  Scribes,  the  sworn  enemies  of  our 
divine  Saviour.  Thus  our  friends  quote  the  words  of  the 
Scribes  found  in  the  Bible,  in  extenuation  of  their  dis- 
obedience of  the  Divine  commands,  also  found  in  the 
Bible.  Not  a  few  protestants  are  able  to  read  that 
"unless  a  man  be  born  again  of  water  and  the  Holy 
Ghost,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  kingdom  of  God,"  and 
still  not  believe  baptism  necessary  to  salvation. 

When  Christianity  was  established  and  great  numbers 
were  daily  added  to  the  Church  "of  such  as  should  be 
saved ;"  the  New  Testament  was  as  yet  unwritten,  which 
shows  that  Christ's  divinely  commissioned  teachers 
could,  without  difficulty,  teach  the  Christian  faith  with- 
out a  complete  Bible.  But  even  when  the  New  Testa- 
ment was  finished,  the  work  of  multiplying  copies  by 
the  pen  of  the  transcriber  was  necessarily  so  very  slow, 
that  not  one  in  a  hundred  of  the  Christians  of  the  first 
centuries  in  all  human  probability  ever  saw  a  Bible, 
and  among  those  who  did,  not  one  in  a  thousand  could 


ii6  The  Bible 

have  read  it.  These  facts  show  conclusively  that  Chris- 
tianity is  not  a  book  religion. 

The  conversion  of  the  primitive  Christians  was 
effected  through  the  preaching  of  the  Gospel  by  a 
ministry  divinely  commissioned — the  proof  of  that  com- 
mission being  the  miracles  wrought — and  by  the  efficacy 
of  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church  which  our  Lord  built 
on  Peter  the  rock ;  and  not  by  the  reading  of  a  book. 

A  dumb  book  can  neither  prove,  or  explain  itself, 
and  can  only  be  corroborative  of  the  voice  of  the  living 
teacher.  Those  who  wish  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of 
any  art  or  science  must  depend  chiefly  upon  oral  instruc- 
tion rather  than  the  reading  of  many  books,  however 
helpful  they  may  be. 

Whoever  heard,  for  instance,  of  a  great  pianist,  whose 
proficiency  was  acquired  without  a  teacher,  simply  by 
the  reading  of  books  explanatory  of  the  art;  or  of  suc- 
cessful schools,  who,  without  teachers,  relied  upon  text- 
books solely?  The  teacher  therefore  is  first,  the  text- 
book secondary. 

In  the  foundation  of  the  Church  is  seen  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  same  natural  order ;  first  the  divinely  com- 
missioned ministry  preaching  the  faith  which  they  had 
heard  from  the  very  lips  of  the  divine  Teacher,  and 
later  on  in  the  fourth  century,  that  same  divinely  com- 
missioned body  of  infallible  teachers,  deciding  upon  the 
authenticity  of  the  different  books,  and  giving  to  the 
world  the  entire  Bible,  whose  claim  that  "all  Scripture 
is  given  by  inspiration  of  God,"  is  thus  vouched  for  and 
proven  by  God's  infallibile  Church  the  only  competent 
witness ;  and  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures  is 


The  Bible  117 

therefore  a  fact.  Without  the  testimony  of  the  Church 
to  confirm  our  faith  in  the  divine  inspiration,  the  Bible 
is  of  no  more  use  to  us  than  a  bound  volume  of  old 
almanacs. 

That  the  Bible  separated  from  its  rightful  owner  and 
explainer  becomes  a  blind  leader  of  the  blind,  is  evinced 
by  the  loss  of  certainty  in  religious  teaching  by  protest- 
ants  who  so  use  it.  As  the  Bible  was  in  the  early 
centuries  practically  out  of  reach  of  the  common  people, 
the  theory  that  every  one  should  read  the  Bible  for 
himself  is,  in  view  of  this  fact,  but  the  acme  of  foolish- 
ness. The  Bible  to  be  a  reliable  guide  to  all  people 
must  be  so  plain  and  easy  of  understanding,  that  no  one 
could  possibly  mistake  the  meaning  of  a  text,  which 
would  cause  them  to  receive  error  instead  of  truth.  The 
Bible  is  a  book  full  of  difficulties,  and  obscurities,  not 
only  for  the  unlearned  but  for  the  learned  who  make 
it  their  chief  study. 

St.  Peter  tells  us  that  4  "in  the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul, 
there  are  certain  things  hard  to  be  understood,  which 
the  unlearned  and  unstable  wrest,  as  they  do  also  the 
other  Scriptures,  to  their  own  destruction."  All  are 
familiar  with  the  account  in  5  Scripture,  anent  the  Ethe- 
opian,  who,  riding  in  his  chariot,  was  reading  the  Bible, 
whom  the  the  deacon  Philip  seeing,  asked  the  question 
"thinkest  thou  that  thou  understandest  what  thou 
readest?  And  he  said,  how  can  I,  unless  some  one 
show  me?"  Here  the  insufficiency  of  the  Sacred  book 

4  Peter  iii,  16. 
r.  Acts  viii,   31. 


ii8  The  Bible 

without  the  voice  of  the  living  teacher  is  clearly  shown, 
and  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  Catholic  teaching. 

To  our  adversaries,  as  they  ignore  the  voice  of  the 
living  teacher,  whose  right  it  is  to  explain,  the  Bible 
has  lost  all  definiteness  in  its  teaching,  and  has  be- 
come a  source  from  which  an  army  of  sects  endeavor 
to  prove  whatever  opinions  they  may  desire  to  enter- 
tain. Says  Cardinal  Gibbons:  "The  Bible  has  become 
in  their  hands  a  complete  Babel.  The  sons  of  Noe 
attempted  in  their  pride  to  ascend  to  heaven  by  building 
the  tower  of  Babel;  and  their  scheme  ended  in  the  con- 
fusion of  tongues.  The  children  of  the  Reformation 
endeavored  in  their  conceit  to  lead  men  to  heaven  by 
the  private  interpretation  of  the  Bible,  and  their  efforts 
led  to  the  confusion  and  the  multiplication  of  religions." 

Protestants  claim  that  the  Bible  alone  is  their  rule  of 
faith;  but  how  do  they  know  that  they  have  a  Bible? 
To  have  faith  in  the  Bible,  they  must  have  faith  in  the 
Church  in  which  they  found  it.  If  the  monks,  who 
transcribed  it,  saw  a  necessity  that  it  should  bear 
stronger  testimony  in  favor  of  "monkish  superstitions 
and  the  arrogant  claims  of  the  Popes;"  what  more 
natural  than  that  something  should  be  added  or  left  out 
in  the  furtherance  of  this  object? 

Our  adversaries  are  not  friendly  to  the  Church  that 
decided  what  books  should  be  considered  the  Bible,  and 
they  have  sometimes  caricatured  the  monks  who  pre- 
served it  to  posterity  by  the  care  and  labor  of  their 
lives.  How  they  can  receive  a  book  from  a  source 
so  suspicious  and  be  able  to  make  an  act  of  faith  upon 
it  as  the  inspired  word  of  God,  it  is  not  easy  to  see. 


The  Bible  119 

If  it  be  urged  that  the  great  truths  of  the  Bible,  its 
superiority  over  other  books,  its  exalted  and  sublime 
language,  the  veneration  in  which  it  has  been  held  by 
the  entire  world,  together  with  the  fact  that  it  claims 
that  6  "all  Scripture  is  given  by  inspiration  of  God," — 
are  sufficient  proofs  of  its  inspiration;  then  it  is  denied 
that  these  are  proofs  at  all.  7  "If,"  says  our  Lord,  "I 
bear  witness  of  myself,  my  witness  is  not  true.  .  .  . 
But  the  ^works  themselves,  which  I  do,  give  testimony 
of  me."  ' 

Our  Lord's  word  alone,  was  not  depended  upon  as 
proof,  but  he  adduced  his  works  as  proof  of  his  divinity. 
It  naturally  follows  that  what  the  Bible  says  concerning 
its  inspiration,  is  no  better  proof,  than  was  our  Lord's 
statement — proof  of  his  divinity.  That  the  Bible  claims 
to  be  the  inspired  word  of  God,  is  no  proof  that  it  is 
until  the  Scripture  has  been  proven  to  be  the  Scripture 
by  a  competent  witness  outside  itself.  This  witness 
has  been  shown  to  be  the  Catholic  Church.  It  is  com- 
petent to  bear  witness  to  the  inspiration  of  the  Bible 
because  it  is  itself  infallible,  and,  therefore,  of  equal 
authority  with  the  Sacred  Writings  which,  by  the  aid 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  it  collected  and  certified  to. 

8  "I  would  not  believe  in  the  Gospels,"  says  St.  Aug- 
ustine, "if  I  were  not  moved  to  do  so  by  the  authority 
of  the  Catholic  Church."  Protestants  having  rejected 
the  witness,  have  no  means  of  knowing  the  Bible  to  be 
the  inspired  word  of  God,  indeed  many  modern  protest- 


e  I  Tim.  iii,  16. 

7  John  v,  31-36. 

8  St.  Augustine   (Contra  Epis.  Manich,   Fund.,  n.   6). 


120  The  Bible 

ants  as  a  natural  consequence  of  this  rejection,  deny 
both  the  inspiration  and  infallibility  of  the  Scriptures. 
Others  differ  widely  regarding  the  genuineness  of  many 
of  its  books;  some  do  not  recognize  the  Gospels  of  St. 
Mark  and  St.  Luke,  because  they  were  not  among  the 
twelve  Apostles.  The  "reformers"  rejected  as  apocry- 
phal seven  books  of  the  Old  Testament. 

9  "The  book  of  Esther,"  says  Luther,  "I  toss  into  the 
Elbe — I  wish  it  did  not  exist;  for  it  Judaizes  too  much, 
and  has  in  it  a  great  deal  of  heathen  naughtiness." 
Again,  that  "the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  not  by  St. 
Paul,  nor  any  other  Apostle  at  all,  is  shown  by  chapter 
second  verse  third.  It  should  be  no  stumbling-block  if 
there  be  found  in  it  a  mixture  of  wood,  straw  and  hay." 
Says  the  same  authority:  "The  most  learned  and  in- 
telligent protestant  divines  here,  almost  all  doubted  or 
denied  the  canonicity  of  the  book  of  Revelation." 

It  is  sad  to  witness  the  fate  of  these  learned  but  un- 
wise men  who,  in  the  pride  and  conceit  of  their  hearts, 
separated  themselves  from  the  witness  and  living  teacher 
of  the  Bible  and  were  speedily  carried  by  strange  cur- 
rents, and  shivered  into  fragmentary  sects,  upon  the 
sunken  rock  of  Private  Judgment,  doomed  to  endless 
contention  over  the  meaning  of  a  Book  to  which  they 
had  in  their  impatience  thrown  away  the  only  key. 

Here  were  men  who  from  their  youth  had  been 
accustomed  to  the  study  and  proper  use  of  the  Bible 
who  in  a  few  years  after  casting  off  the  reins  of  proper 
authority  had  drifted  out  of  sight  of  every  landmark, 

9  Edinburg  Review,  No.  121. 


The  Bible  121 

and  had  become  certain  of  only  one  thing,  and  that  was 
doubt. 

Instead  of  belief  in  the  divine  inspiration  of  the  entire 
Bible,  disbelief  in  that  doctrine — though  generally  seek- 
ing the  veil  of  concealment — was  largely  in  the  prepond- 
erance, and  it  should  create  no  surprise  to  hear  their 
successors  in  our  own  day  boldly  and  frankly  avowing 
their  entire  disbelief  in  the  infallibility  of  all  Scripture. 

An  editorial  in  the  New  York  Sun  (1899)  says:  "The 
Methodist  Church  was  formerly  distinguished  by  its  un- 
questioning faith  in  the  Bible,  but  when  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Cadman,  pastor  of  the  Metropolitan  Temple  in  this  city, 
declared  recently  before  a  great  company  of  Methodist 
ministers  that  'the  absolute  inerrancy  of  the  Bible  is  no 
longer  possible  of  belief  among  reasoning  men/  he  was 
applauded.  .  .  .  and  Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  expressed 
the  frequent,  if  not  the  usual  sentiment  of  Congrega- 
tionalist  ministers  when  he  went  even  further  in  his 
departure  from  the  old  theology." 

Dr.  Rainsford,  one  of  Greater  New  York's  greater 
Episcopalian  rectors  says :  "We  cannot  give  an  infallible 
Bible,  for  the  Bible  is  not  an  infallible  book;  but  we 
can  give  you  a  light  unto  your  feet  and  a  hope  for  your 
lives."  The  New  York  Sun,  comments  as  follows:  "It 
will  be  seen  that  in  all  this,  there  is  no  reference  to 
the  Church  as  a  divine  institution,  in  which  lives  the 
means  of  salvation  for  men.  It  is  treated  as  a  fallible 
human  institution,  which  commends  itself  to  men  as  a 
voluntary  association  simply  of  moral  and  religious  use- 
fulness to  them.  That  there  is  any  divine  obligation 
to  join  the  Church  and  that  its  sacraments  are  a  means 


122  The  Bible 

of  salvation  is  not  contended  by  Dr.  Rainsford.  With 
all  its  faults,  his  argument  is,  the  Church  is  a  desirable 
association  for  men,  and  attendance  upon  its  services 
is  of  moral  advantage  to  them.  ...  So  far  as  the 
Bible  is  concerned,  he  gives  men  an  example  of  denial, 
by  himself  refusing  to  accept  its  infallibility." 

Mr.  E.  H.  Abbot,  in  the  Outlook,  says  that  "the 
reason  so  many  are  not  enrolled  in  the  churches,  is  not 
because  they  do  not  accept  the  authority  of  the  Bible 
but  because,  through  the  multiplicity  of  disagreeing  in- 
terpreters, they  are  confused  in  their  minds  as  to  ivhat 
the  Bible  does  definitely  teach." 

The  right  of  private  interpretation  opens  the  Bible 
to  every  one  alike,  to  draw  from  it  whatever  opinions 
may  appeal  to  the  individual  fancy,  or  seem  most  suit- 
able for  contention  in  long  and  windy  debate.  Such  a 
use  of  the  Bible,  confuses  the  minds  of  honest  enquirers 
after  truth  by  giving  upon  every  subject  most  contrary 
and  diverse  opinions,  furnishing  the  careless  and  indif- 
ferent with  the  best  of  excuses  for  their  negligence. 
The  futile  attempts  to  explain  the  meaning  of  an  infal- 
lible Book  by  a  fallible  authority,  is  destroying  men's 
respect  for  the  Bible,  and  is  causing  the  protestant  shep- 
herds, in  the  past  the  sworn  defenders  and  glorifiers 
of  the  "open"  Bible,  to  head  the  procession  of  mal- 
contents in  an  organized  revolt  against  it. 

The  Jewish  people  in  seeking  a  decision  in  any  given 
case  were  not  accustomed  to  appeal  to  the  written  law. 
The  priests  of  the  Levitical  race  were  profoundly  in- 
structed in  the  Scriptures,  they  were  the  custodians  and 
judges  of  God's  law,  and  to  them,  and  not  to  the  Book, 


The  Bible  123 

the  people  came  for  judgment,  as  we  learn  from  the  Old 
Testament.  10  If  thou  perceive  that  there  be  among  you 
a  hard  and  doubtful  matter  in  judgment  .  .  .  thou 
shalt  come  to  the  priests  .  .  .  and  to  the  judge 
.  .  .  and  they  shall  show  thee  the  truth  of  the  judg- 
ment." And  again :  X1  "The  lips  of  the  priest  shall  keep 
knowledge,  and  they  (the  people)  shall  seek  the  law  at 
his  mouth." 

The  Jewish  priests  whose  duty  it  was  to  12  "search  the 
Scriptures"  and  give  just  judgment  from  the  Book  of 
God's  Law,  failed  in  their  task,  and  the  Messiah  in  con- 
sequence was  not  recognized  at  his  coming. 

The  verse  referred  to  in  St.  John's  Gospel,  is  not  a 
command  for  all  to  "search  the  Scriptures,"  as  at  that 
time  only  the  Old  Testament  was  in  existence  and  very 
few  with  the  exception  of  the  priests  were  in  the  pos- 
session of  that ;  but  it  was  addressed  to  the  Pharisees, 
in  the  nature  of  both  an  inquiry  and  a  rebuke ;  as  though 
he  had  said:  "You  have  the  Scriptures,  and  the  same 
are  they  that  give  testimony  of  me,  how  then  do  you 
fail  to  recognize,  and  come  to  me  for  life  everlasting?" 

Everywhere — under  the  old  dispensation,  and  under 
the  new — men  were  sent  for  a  knowledge  of  God's  law, 
not  to  the  book  containing  the  law,  but  to  the  living 
voice  of  the  Church ;  to  the  priests  who  were  empow- 
ered to  explain  and  apply  the  law  as  the  exigencies  of 
the  case  might  seem  to  require. 

The  administration  of  human  law,  has   always  been 

10  Deut.   xvii,   8-9. 

11  Mai.   ii,   7. 

12  John  v,   39. 


124  The  Bible 

effected  by  a  like  principle.  Wherever  you  find  the 
book  of  the  law,  you  find  there  the  judge  of  the  law 
also.  Law  books  are  useful ;  courts  indispensable. 

Suppose,  if  you  will,  a  contest  arising  between  claim- 
ants to  a  piece  of  real  estate.  Do  the  contestants  meet 
together,  bringing  such  law  books  as  may  contain  cita- 
tions from  similar  cases,  and  quote  from  them,  interpret, 
argue  and  explain  the  meaning  of  the  law  and  its  appli- 
cation to  the  supposed  case?  If  we  can  imagine  so 
extraordinary  a  procedure,  can  we  imagine  such  a  thing 
as  a  final  agreement?  But  were  an  agreement  to  result, 
would  that  constitute  a  legal  settlement,  and  confirm 
the  title?  Certainly  not,  the  case  would  remain  unde- 
cided, for  he  only  who  is  the  legally  appointed  judge  of 
the  law  can  decide  a  question  of  law.  An  attempt  to 
so  use  the  text-books  of  the  law  in  deciding  a  case 
would  be  a  misuse  of  a  helpful  assistant,  and  would 
result  in  the  miscarriage  of  justice,  and  in  this  particular 
instance  would  show  where  two  overconfident  ones  had 
erred. 

Is  not  this  the  way  our  protestant  friends  use  the 
Bible? 

If  we  compare  the  divine  with  the  human  law,  we 
must  observe  the  vast  superiority  of  the  former,  as  well 
as  the  greater  difficulty  in  its  explanation.  As  far  as 
the  authors  are  separated  from  each  other,  so  also  are 
their  works.  13  "For  my  thoughts  are  not  your  thoughts ; 
nor  your  ways  my  ways,  saith  the  Lord,  for  as  the 
heavens  are  exalted  above  the  earth,  so  are  my  ways 

is  Isaiah  Iv,  8-9. 


The  Bible  125 

exalted  above  your  ways  and  my  thoughts  above  your 
thoughts." 

Protestants  take  in  their  hands  the  Book  of  God's  law 
which  they  have  obtained  from  a  source  they  regard  as 
unreliable,  and  which  should  cause  them  to  fear  had 
been  corrupted ;  knowing  that  the  original  is  lost,  and 
that  they  have  only  a  translation  which  may  not  be 
correct;  yet  their  rash  confidence  in  the  Book,  is  only 
excelled  by  their  rash  confidence  in  their  ability  to 
explain  it. 

The  first  reformers  must  have  erred  in  their  under- 
standing of  the  law,  if  the  present  understanding  of 
it  which  has  substituted  good  works  for  justification  by 
faith  alone,  is  the  correct  understanding.  But  again  if 
the  first  reformers  were  right,  then  in  just  so  much  as 
the  moderns  differ  from  them,  the  moderns  are  wrong. 

If  the  first  reformers  understood  the  Bible,  their 
descendants  should  not  find  it  necessary  to  disagree 
with  them.  If  the  first  reformers  did  not  understand 
the  Bible,  is  it  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the 
moderns,  using  the  same  principle  of  private  interpre- 
tation, might  also  fall  into  other  and  greater  errors? 

If  A,  B  and  C  each  explain  a  portion  of  the  Bible, 
and  three  different  interpretations  result ;  where  is 
the  word  of  God?  It  can  be  contained  only  in  the 
right  interpretation.  Is  it  certain  that  any  one  of 
these  explanations  is  the  right  one?  If  any  of  the 
meanings  is  the  right  one,  which  one  is  it?  There 
being  no  authority  among  protestants  to  decide  the 
question,  it  follows  that  with  them  nothing  more  certain 
than  a  conjecture  can  result. 


iz6  The  Bible 

As  long  as  protestants  are  without  a  divinely  ap- 
pointed head,  as  a  Supreme  Court  to  render  decisions 
that  shall  be  conclusive;  as  long  as  every  one  has  equal 
rights  in  explaining  God's  law,  just  so  long  will  relig- 
ious truth  be  for  them  unobtainable;  just  so  long  will 
sects  increase  and  faith  become  more  uncertain,  shift- 
ing and  nebulous,  ending  as  dreams  finally  end,  in 
nothing. 

Here,  in  strong  contrast,  the  wisdom  of  those  men- 
tioned becomes  apparent,  for  they  sought  only  the  ex- 
planation of  a  human  law,  a  law  framed  in  their  own 
country  and  in  their  own  day;  they  were  conversant 
with  the  exigencies  that  brought  the  law  into  being, 
they  may  have  been  even  among  the  number  of  those 
who  assisted  in  the  framing  of  the  law,  and  were  fa- 
miliar with  its  scope  and  design.  The  law,  further- 
more, was  in  the  native  language;  little  wonder  then, 
that  confidence  in  their  ability  to  understand  and 
make  use  of  it,  should  have  been  born  of  all  these 
facts.  They  were  wrong,  but  they  had  a  hundred  good 
reasons  why  they  should  have  been  right,  where  those 
who  so  use  God's  book  of  the  Law,  have  one. 

When,  in  a  case  at  law,  the  jury  retire  to  go  over 
the  history  of  the  case  and  weigh  the  evidence,  etc., 
preparatory  to  finding  a  verdict,  it  seems  but  natural  that 
they  should  have  assistance  in  their  task  from  the  text- 
book of  the  law.  But  this  favor  is  not  granted;  the 
jury  receiving  instructions  not  from  the  text-books  of 
the  law,  but  from  the  living  voice  of  the  judge.  For 
it  is  a  well  known  fact  that  a  jury  of  self-constituted 
judges,  would  argue  and  wrangle  over  the  meaning 


The  Bible  127 

of  the  book,  until  the  merits  of  the  case  would  be 
wholly  lost  sight  of  in  the  desire  to  come  out  best  in 
the  argument ;  which  it  may  be  supposed  might  become 
as  heated  and  acrimonious  as  a  dispute  among  sectaries 
concerning  the  right  meaning  of  some  text  of  the  Bible. 

It  is  easily  seen  that  private  judgment,  as  explana- 
tory of  the  meaning  of  any  book  containing  law  hu- 
man or  divine,  must  necessarily  be  a  failure,  in  that  it 
is  conducive  to  strife  and  the  greater  confirmation — 
through  the  natural  pride  and  obstinacy  of  the  human 
mind — of  those  opinions  which,  from  their  long  abiding 
with  us,  are  surrendered,  if  at  all,  under  protest.  The 
unseemly  quarrels  and  divisions  among  protestants,  that 
arise  from  the  use  of  private  judgment,  are  generally 
seen  to  end  where  they  began,  without  accomplishing 
anything  more  than  the  rasping  of  the  mind  and  temper. 

Our  friends  make  no  mistakes  regarding  the  use  of 
text-books  either  in  school  or  in  court;  it  is  only  in 
their  manner  of  using  the  Bible  that  they  adopt  a 
governing  principle  unknown  to  the  remainder  of  the 
civilized  world. 

Protestants  have  sought  to  explain  the  difficulty  by 
saying,  that  besides  the  written  Word,  there  is  an  in- 
ternal Word  or  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  that  en- 
ables each  earnest  reader  to  discern  the  truth.  In 
thus  providing  each  of  their  number  with  the  gift  of 
infallibility,  while  denying  immunity  from  error  to  the 
Catholic  Church,  they  escape  one  horn  of  the  dilemma 
to  be  impaled  upon  the  other;  for  if  there  is  such  an 
internal  guide  to  the  external  Word,  the  only  result 
for  which  we  could  look,  would  be  a  perfect  unity 


128  The  Bible 

in  interpretation.  But  if  the  internal  witness  pro- 
nounces from  the  mouths  of  a  number  of  different 
Bible  readers,  a  number  of  contradictory  decisions 
upon  the  same  text,  it  would  appear  that  this  new  kind 
of  infallibility  must  be  considered  as  a  poor  substi- 
tute for  the  old. 

If  protestants  have  a  guide  of  this  description,  what 
is  there  to  prevent  catholics  from  having  a  similar 
guide?  As  our  internal  spirit  has  given  decisions  quite 
different  from  the  protestant  internal  spirit,  one  of 
these  internal  spirits  must  be  the  spirit  of  error.  Now 
as  our  spirit  has  led  us  to  unity,  which  is  most  pleas- 
ing to  God,  and  the  guiding  spirit  of  protestants  has 
led  them  to  withdraw  from  unity  which  is  most  dis- 
pleasing to  God,  therefore,  our  internal  spirit  is  the 
Holy  Ghost  promised  to  the  Church  in  the  Gospel,  and 
the  spirit  that  guides  each  individual  protestant  is  the 
spirit  of  error. 

In  contradistinction  to  the  severe  criticisms  of  so 
large  a  portion  of  the  Bible  as  shown  in  the  writings  of 
the  reformers,  the  catholic  position  is  here  stated  by 
Dr.  Brann  of  New  York:  "The  Bible  is  infallible,  but 
it  is  more:  it  is  inspired.  Infallibility  is  negative  while 
inspiration  is  positive.  The  former  term  implies  free- 
dom from  error,  while  inspiration  implies  a  direct  action 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  on  the  intellect  and  will  of  the 
writer,  suggesting  to  him  what  he  shall  write  and 
preserving  him  from  error  while  he  is  writing,  but  at 
the  same  time  leaving  liberty  both  as  to  his  choice  of 
words  and  the  style  which  he  shall  use. 

"We   hold  that   all   parts    of   the   Bible   are   inspired 


The  Bible  129 

from  the  first  sentence  to  the  last.  Two  General  Coun- 
cils, the  first  at  Trent  in  the  sixteenth  century,  and 
the  other  the  Vatican  Council  of  1870,  have  decided 
this.  Catholics  who  would  hold  any  doctrine  different 
from  this  would  be  put  out  of  the  Church.  The  primary 
author  of  the  Bible  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  secondary 
authors  are  the  men,  whose  names  have  come  down  to 
us  attached  to  the  different  books.  The  style  is  dif- 
ferent and  the  words  are  their  own." 

An  editorial  from  the  New  York  Sun  serves  to  illus- 
trate the  relative  position  of  catholics  and  protestants 
concerning  faith  in  the  Bible.  "It  may  be  assumed  that 
because  of  the  now  assured  withdrawal  of  Dr.  Mc- 
Giflfcrt  from  the  Presbyterian  Church,  the  case  of  heresy 
against  him,  as  appealed  to  the  General  Assembly  by 
the  Rev.  Dr.  Birch,  will  be  dismissed.  So  long,  how- 
ever, as  in  Presbyterian  pulpits  and  theological  sem- 
inaries there  still  remain  many  who  are  in  sympathy 
with  him,  the  controversy  is  bound  to  crop  up  again, 
unless  that  Church  virtually  abandons  its  position  as  to 
the  Bible. 

"If  Dr.  Briggs  and  Dr.  McGiffert  had  to  leave  of 
their  own  motion  to  escape  being  put  out,  what  con- 
sistency is  there  in  these  others  remaining?  The  Roman 
Catholic  Church  has  condemned  Dr.  Mivart  promptly 
and  emphatically  because  of  teachings  which  are  gener- 
ally akin  to  those  of  the  "higher  critics"  of  the  Pres- 
byterian Church.  Will,  then,  the  General  Assembly 
leave  the  championship  of  Scriptural  infallibility  to  the 
Church  of  Rome  alone,  though  the  sole  basis  upon  which 
protestantism  rests  in  avowedly  the  Bible? 


130  The  Bible 

"The  Pope,  in  his  Encyclical  on  Scripture  in  1893, 
declared  that  'all  the  books  which  the  Church  receives 
as  sacred  and  canonical  are  written  wholly  and  entirely, 
with  all  their  parts,  at  the  dictation  of  the  Holy  Ghost/ 
and  that  'inspiration  is  not  only  incompatible  with  error, 
but  also  excludes  and  rejects  it  as  absolutely  and  neces- 
sarily as  it  is  impossible  that  God  Himself,  the  Supreme 
Truth,  can  utter  that  which  is  not  true.'  .  .  .  The 
position  of  Rome  as  to  the  Bible,  is  unequivocal.  So 
also  is  that  of  Protestantism,  so  far  as  concerns  its 
formal  and  authoritative  standards  of  faith ;  but  while 
Roman  Catholicism  commands  the  layman  Dr.  Mivart 
to  render  obedience  to  its  dogma  under  pain  of  excom- 
munication and  eternal  damnation,  Protestantism  retains 
in  its  ministry  and  as  teachers  of  theology  many  men 
whose  teachings  openly  contradict  its  standards. 

"Does  not  this,  then,  leave  the  Roman  Catholic  Church 
the  sole  champion  of  Scriptural  infallibility? 

"Of  course,  a  law  amounts  to  nothing,  becomes  a  mere 
dead  letter,  unless  it  is  enforced.  And  is  it  not  a  very 
remarkable  situation?  Protestantism,  the  great  dis- 
tinguishing feature  of  which  is  reliance  on  the  authority 
of  the  Bible  above  and  without  any  other,  surrenders 
the  keeping  of  the  infallibility  of  that  authority  to  the 
Church  against  which  it  protested  and  from  which  it 
separated  in  the  sixteenth  century  as  a  fountain  of 
religious  error." 

A  representative  English  Church  writer  says :  14  "The 
distinction  between  Anglicans  and  those  who  continue  to 
look  to  the  Holy  See  for  their  centre,  is  not  that  we 

i±  "England  and  the  Holy  See,"   Spencer  Jones,  M.  A. 


The  Bible  131 

have  antagonisms  and  contradictions  and  that  they  have 
none;  no,  the  mark  of  distinction  between  us  is,  that 
whereas  disputations  upon  important  if  not  fundamental 
truths  come  at  length  to  some  termination  in  their  case, 
they  seem  never  to  do  so  in  ours." 

What  is  this  but  a  frank  admission  regarding  the 
necessity  of  a  judicial  head  for  the  settlement  of  con- 
troversies ? 

The  protestant  divine  S.  E.  Herrick  has  well  said : 
15  "Men  may  get  out  of  their  interpretation  of  the  Bible 
.  .  .  false  deductions  as  to  duty  and  life."  The  Rev. 
Dwight  A.  Jordan,  a  protestant  writer  says :  "Discus- 
sion of  the  Bible  as  literature  may  have  some  modicum 
of  value  for  preachers'  meetings,  while  as  a  species  of 
ecclesiastical  mental  gymnastics  they  may  serve  a  minor 
purpose.  The  maximum  effect  is  to  make  of  some,  per- 
haps many,  not  too  well  qualified  men,  self-determining 
judges  of  what  is  really  the  word  of  God.  In  this  way, 
they  becloud  the  mind  and  weaken  the  faith,  never  too 
strong,  of  the  great  masses  both  in  and  out  of  the 
Church,  till  faith  is  practically  paralyzed,  and  excuses 
are  plentifully  supplied  for  lax  interpretations  and  loose 
deductions,  which  strike  at  the  vitals  of  the  whole 
Christian  scheme." 

Why  should  our  friends  find  it  necessary  to  longer 
remain  in  a  church  that,  according  to  its  own  teachers, 
is  engaged  in  undermining  the  faith  of  its  members? 
The  Bible,  God's  word,  as  understood  by  God's  Church, 
is  peerless  among  books,  confirming  the  faith.  Our 
brethren  with  halting  steps  and  many  wistful  glances 

15  "Some  Heretics  of  Yesterday,"   p.   233. 


132  The  Bible 

backward  for  encouragement  to  the  dictum  of  the  re- 
formers are  slowly  making  the,  to  them,  unwelcome 
discovery  that  the  Bible  as  each  one  understands  it,  is 
a  pronounced  failure  as  a  light  to  the  feet,  a  guide  to 
the  faith,  and  a  hope  for  our  lives ;  but  as  an  incentive 
for  promoting  strife  and  division,  it  alas!  has  no  equal. 

At  an  Anglican  Church  Congress  not  long  since 
16  "The  Rev.  Edgar  Gilson,  prebendary  of  Wells  and 
Chaplain  in  ordinary  to  the  King,  compared  the  Bible 
to  Shakespeare's  mythical  character  of  Macbeth  'around 
which  Shakespeare  built  up  a  great  human  document,' 
so  other  writers  he  averred  took  up  certain  fabled  inci- 
dents and  built  around  them  the  great  truths  which 
made  religion  what  it  is.  The  clergy  were  wrong  in 
going  on  teaching  the  Bible  in  the  old  way.  Sir  A. 
Short,  master  at  Harrow,  said  he  believed  the  majority 
of  school  teachers  adopted  an  uncandid  attitude  before 
the  Bible  class,  which  was  morally  unwholesome  and 
scientifically  incorrect.'  It  was  stated  in  this  Congress 
that  the  Bible  could  not  longer  be  regarded  'as  the 
standard  of  morals!'  The  Bishop  of  Derry  reminded 
the  congress  that  'all  revelation  is  progressive.'  The 
Canon  of  Ely  boldly  declared  that  'all  parts  of  the 
Bible  must  not  be  regarded  as  being  equal/  >: 

It  is  the  boast  of  protestantism  that  it  never  stands 
still;  what  they  believe  to-day  will  most  likely  be 
changed  to-morrow,  and  change,  with  them,  is  synony- 
mous with  progress,  improvement,  advancement.  As 
our  adversaries  in  the  past  abused  the  Church,  from 
which  they  took  the  Scriptures,  so  now  their  descend- 


16  London  Press. 


The  Bible  133 

ants  are  busily  engaged  in  abusing  the  Scriptures  which 
they  took  from  the  Church.  It  is  to  be  supposed  that 
in  due  time  the  world  will  be  informed  concerning  the 
new  standard  of  morals  set  up  by  Anglicans  in  place 
of  the  old  which  they  have  discarded. 

Protestants  may  long  continue  to  profess  belief  in 
the  Bible,  but  will  it  not  be  that  Bible  which  the  "Out- 
look" preaches,  that  the  Anglican  clergy  spoke  of  at 
their  Congress,  and  which  the  Boston  Congregationalist 
recently  mentioned  when  it  said  that  "even  if  a  minister 
did  doubt  the  bodily  resurrection  of  Jesus,  the  rite  of 
ordination  should  not  be  denied  him."  Everywhere 
"the  trend  of  modern  thought"  among  the  "rival 
churches"  is  strongly  toward  the  eradication  of  the  su- 
pernatural from  all  Scriptural  interpretations,  and  the 
reducing  of  all  religion  to  the  bare  level  of  human 
reason  and  philosophy. 

In  the  year  of  Grace  1911,  was  witnessed  in  the  city 
of  St.  Francis,  by  the  sea,  a  great  protestant  demonstra- 
tion in  which  was  carried  by  thousands  of  stalwart 
men  in  procession — "the  open  Bible,"  that  effective 
slogan  of  protestantism  used  as  a  protest  against  the 
"supposed  closed  Bible"  of  the  Catholic  Church.  This 
religious  procession  had  little  or  no  resemblance  to  the 
processions  of  catholics,  the  serious  earnestness  and 
decorum  of  which  were  supplanted  by  a  spirit  pro- 
nouncedly humorous,  as  shown  in  the  delegation  from 
a  metropolitan  city  of  the  East,  whose  big  base  drum 
was  supplied  with  a  vocal  accompaniment  in  the  words: 
"Beans,  beans,  Boston  baked  beans!" 

A    brief    season    had    elapsed    since    this    display    of 


134  The  Bible 

enthusiasm  for  the  "open"  Bible,  when  the  Pacific  The- 
ological Seminary — a  name  implying  great  extent  of 
domain,  if  not  like  breadth  of  mind  and  spiritual  dis- 
cernment— imported  from  Yale  University  a  distin- 
guished Professor  who,  according  to  the  press  notices, 
is  "the  author  of  several  treatises  on  the  Bible,  and 
declared  to  be  one  of  the  foremost  authorities  on  Scrip- 
tural history  in  the  United  States !" 

This  certainly  is  no  scant  praise,  and  as  the  Bible 
procession  has  led  the  way  in  pointing  out  the  price- 
less benefits  that — since  it  has  been  open  to  all — all 
have  received,  we  may  expect  from  this  new  light  of 
the  East,  that  climax  of  wisdom  which  will  result  in 
the  further  deepening  of  the  good  impressions  already 
received  concerning  it.  The  public  press,  however, 
brought  the  surprising  information  that  the  inerrancy 
of  the  Bible — specifically  in  its  records  of  miraculous 
manifestations — had  been  boldly  denied  by  the  most 
learned  Professor  of  Yale,  in  an  attempt  at  reasoning, 
the  fallacy  of  which  dispenses  us  from  any  attempt  at 
comment — being  as  it  is  perfectly  apparent  to  even  the 
most  ordinary  minds. 

This  is  an  "opening"  of  the  Bible  on  the  Pacific  coast 
under  the  auspices  of  the  Pacific  Theological  Seminary, 
who  presumably  stands  sponsor  for  the  theories  ad- 
vanced. 

To-day,  our  friends  exalt  the  Bible,  and  proclaim  it 
their  only  rule  of  faith ;  to-morrow,  they  mercilessly 
dissect  and  discredit  it.  A  fitting  parallel  to  this  in- 
constancy is  found  in  the  Gospel.  When  our  Lord  was 


The  Bible  135 

entering  Jerusalem,  on  one  occasion,  he  found  his  path- 
way strewn  with  the  palm  branches  of  victory,  and 
heard  the  resounding  cry  of  the  multitudes,  of  hosanna 
to  the  Son  of  David ;  which  on  the  morrow  was  changed 
to,  crucify  him,  away  with  this  fellow  from  the  earth. 

While  protestants  are  seen  applying  the  test  of  a 
"higher  criticism"  to  the  Bible,  which  is  but  the  natural 
growth  and  expansion  of  those  practices  of  unbelief 
which  the  reformers  at  first  applied  to  certain  parts 
of  the  Bible  which  by  the  aid  of  reason  alone  they  failed 
to  understand,  and  which  their  successors  are  now  ap- 
plying to  all  parts  of  the  Bible  which  contain  any  refer- 
ence to  the  supernatural — we  see  in  happy  contrast  the 
Catholic  Church  professing  the  same  faith  and  rever- 
ence for  the  Bible  which  she  in  the  earliest  Christian 
centuries  truly  professed,  and  which  profession  of  faith 
no  succeeding  century  ever  has  or  ever  will  see  the 
shadow  of  a  turning  from. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  ever  patient  with  her  unde- 
vout  and  careless  children,  always  praying,  always  hope- 
ful for  the  reformation  of  their  lives,  but  when  they 
essay  to  reform  the  faith  because  of  their  indifference 
and  failure  to  live  up  to  it,  then  it  must  be  said  that 
the  Church  has  no  further  patience  with  them;  for  the 
Household  of  Faith  can  never  change  her  doctrines 
until  perhaps  the  coming  of  the  day  when  the  Almighty 
shall  condescend  to  change  his  plan  and  purpose  in  the 
ruling  of  the  universe  to  correspond  to  the  dictates  and 
criticism  of  his  creatures. 

The  creature — however  wise — in  seeking  to  teach  a 


136  The  Bible 

faith  of  his  own  making,  instead  of  receiving,  with  the 
meekness  of  a  little  child  that  which  from  the  begin- 
ning was  made  for  .him,  is  but  attempting  the  work  of 
the  Creator,  and  from  being  as  he  thinks  the  greatest, 
becomes — according  to  the  Gospel — the  least  among  men. 


CHAPTER  VII. 
THE  HOLY  EUCHARIST. 

Among  the  departures  of  the  "reformers"  from  the 
faith  of  their  fathers,  the  change  of  belief  in  the  Real 
Presence  to  that  of  belief  in  an  unreal  presence  in 
the  Eucharistic  Feast,  forms  one  of  the  most  radical 
of  their  denials  of  the  ancient  belief  and  practice.  This 
act  may  be  likened  to  the  casting  away  of  the  kernel  of 
the  nut,  while  with  scrupulous  care  the  outside  shell  is 
retained.  The  Real  Presence  in  the  Sacrament  of  the 
Altar,  is,  to  those  of  the  household  of  faith,  what  the 
sun  is  to  the  planetary  system;  the  source  and  center 
of  light,  warmth  and  life,  without  which  the  soul  of 
religion  is  wanting,  the  reality  is  gone,  and  Christianity 
is  deprived  of  what  has  been  truly  called  the  magnet 
of  souls. 

Our  divine  Lord,  as  a  fisher  of  men,  was  desirous 
of  drawing  rather  than  driving  men  to  embrace  the 
truth ;  for,  as  truth  is  antagonistic  to  error,  it  requires 
care  in  its  presentation  that  a  spirit  of  opposition  be 
not  aroused  in  the  minds  and  wills  of  those  whose  bene- 
fit is  sought.  Accordingly  the  Master  is  seen  going 
about  doing  good;  his  miracles  resulted  in  the  amel- 
ioration of  human  ills,  and  his  gentleness  and  sympathy 
for  all,  the  ease  with  which  the  poor  and  humble  might 
approach  him,  together  with  the  dignity  of  his  bear- 


138  The  Holy  Eucharist 

ing,  the  loftiness  of  his  theme,  and  the  authority  of 
his  teaching,  combined  to  draw  all  hearts  to  him. 

At  a  time  when  the  attention  of  a  large  and  increas- 
ing number  was  directed  to  the  new  doctrines,  and 
when  success  for  the  same  seemed  almost  assured,  the 
onward  movement  suddenly  received  a  decided  check, 
and  an  adverse  current  set  in.  This  change  of  feeling 
was  occasioned  by  that  astonishing  declaration  found 
in  the  Gospel  of  St.  John :  *  "I  am  the  living  bread 
which  came  down  from  heaven.  If  any  man  eat  of 
this  bread,  he  shall  live  forever;  and  the  bread  that  I 
will  give,  is  my  flesh,  for  the  life  of  the  world.  .  .  . 
Except  you  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink 
his  blood,  you  shall  not  have  life  in  you." 

This  unlocked  for  declaration  must  have  seemed  to 
those  intending  converts  as  though  the  sky  had  fallen 
on  them.  To  their  bright  hopes  succeeded  grief  and 
disappointment  and  the  dispelling  of  their  dreams,  that 
grace  and  truth,  and  the  new  commandment  of  love 
emphasized  by  the  Master,  would  find  their  happy 
consummation  in  mitigating  the  sterner  rigors  of  the 
law  that  came  by  Moses.  Bitter  the  disappointment  at 
the  statement  of  a  doctrine  so  shocking  to  the  finer 
sensibilities,  and  so  difficult  of  belief.  A  hard  saying 
truly,  and  one  that  might  well  suggest  the  question, 
that  shows  beyond  question,  that  all  who  heard  under- 
stood the  words  in  their  literal  sense,  "How  can  this 
man  give  us  his  flesh  to  eat?"  (John  vi,  53.) 

The  great  Teacher  looked  about  him  at  the  havoc 
his  words  had  wrought,  as  a  captain  might  view  his 

i  John  vi,  51. 


The  Holy  Eucharist  139 

ship  dismantled  by  the  gale,  and  see  it  being  carried  to 
destruction  on  the  thundering  surges  of  a  rock-bound 
coast,  without  making  an  effort  to  stay  the  work  of 
the  devastating  sea.  He  saw  his  new  followers  in 
whose  constancy  he  had  indulged  such  hopes,  turn  their 
backs  upon  him  and  depart.  Singly,  and  in  small  com- 
panies, they  went  leaving  only  his  original  number — 
the  Twelve  Apostles ! 

Hasten  O  Shepherd!  to  bring  back  these,  who,  but 
for  this  hard  saying,  would  now  be  thy  sheep.  Explain 
the  meaning  to  be  figurative,  and  see  their  joy  at  the 
good  news,  and  witness  their  speedy  return!  But  our 
divine  Master,  who  was  willing  to  die  for  the  disap- 
pointed ones,  was  unwilling  to  make  the  desired  ex- 
planation, and  the  hard  saying  remained  a  hard  saying 
to  the  captious  ones,  as  well  as  to  countless  souls  who, 
since  "The  Great  Reformation,"  have  taken  like  offense 
at  these  words  of  the  divine  Master.  With  the  saving 
of  souls  as  his  chief  object,  and  realizing  the  turning 
of  the  tide  against  him,  yet  to  the  Twelve  he  simply 
says,  "Will  you  also  go  away?"  He  allows  all  to  go 
away,  who  did  not  give  in  their  adhesion,  and  at  once 
believe  him  on  his  word.  Can  we  possibly  imagine 
that,  if  he  had  been  speaking  all  the  time  in  figures, 
and  they  had  misunderstood  him,  he  would  permit 
them  to  incur  the  ruin  of  their  soul  for  their  refusal 
to  believe  imaginary  doctrines,  which  he  never  meant 
to  teach  them? 

As  his  earnest  gaze  is  turned  to  where  he  sees  in 
the  sunshine  and  shadows  of  the  ages  to  come,  the 
Catholic  Church,  teaching  to  the  many  millions  yet 


140  The  Holy  Eucharist 

unborn,  that  when  there  in  Capharnaum  he  said  these 
words,  he  meant  what  he  said. 

More  than  this ;  he  saw  that  in  taking  him  at  his 
word,  and  in  acting  upon  this  belief,  each  and  every 
catholic  through  all  time  would  join  in  that  highest 
act  of  worship,  adoration  to  what  four  out  of  the  five 
senses  would  recognize  as  common  bread  and  wine! 
He  saw  that  if  in  all  the  acts  of  adoration  paid  to  the 
Sacred  Host  on  numberless  altars,  were  each  to  be 
an  idolatrous  act,  his  own  plain  words  would  be  the 
cause  of  every  one  of  them;  and  that  in  founding  a 
religion  for  the  extinction  of  idolatry  among  the 
heathen,  he  had  made  the  most  effective  preparation 
possible  for  its  perpetuity  through  all  time. 

And  with  all  this  ever  present  in  his  mind  he  gave 
no  word  of  explanation,  and  it  seems  the  more  strange, 
as  it  was  the  Master's  custom  to  explain  himself  fully 
that  none  might  be  in  doubt  concerning  his  doctrine. 
But  where  has  it  been  shown  that  our  Lord  explained 
to  his  disciples  or  to  anyone,  that  when  he  said  "this 
is  my  body,"  he  meant  this  is  not  my  body? 

When  using  figurative  language,  it  is  necessary  either 
to  employ  figures  which  are  familiar  or  make  such  ex- 
planations in  regard  to  unusual  figures  as  will  preclude 
any  misunderstanding  arising  from  their  use.  In  the 
Semitic  languages,  there  was  a  common  metaphor  in 
use  regarding  the  eating  of  human  flesh,  by  which  was 
meant  to  derogate  or  calumniate  another.  The  Psalm- 
ist David  says :  2  "Whilst  the  wicked  draw  near  against 
me,  to  eat  my  flesh."  Meaning,  when  my  enemies  draw 

2  Ps.   xxvi;   Prot.  ver.   xxvii. 


The  Holy  Eucharist  141 

near  to  traduce  and  vilify  me.  The  same  figure  is 
employed  by  Job,  who,  in  answering  his  comfortless 
comforters,  says :  3  "Why  do  you  persecute  me  as 
God,  and  glut  yourselves  with  my  flesh?"  If  the  divine 
Saviour  used  a  figure;  as  understood  by  the  Jews,  the 
saying  "he  that  eateth  me  shall  live  by  me,"  would 
mean,  he  that  calumniates  and  traduces  me,  shall  live 
by  me.  It  is  evident  then,  that  if  the  language  was 
figurative,  it  was  not  the  usual  and  commonly  under- 
stood figure ;  but  one  different  in  its  meaning,  and  one 
which  it  was  for  his  interest  to  explain. 

Our  divine  Lord  made  haste  to  explain  the  figure 
regarding  the  leaven  of  the  Pharisees,  by  which  the 
disciples  had  understood  him  to  mean  bread;  by  ex- 
plaining that  it  was  their  doctrine  to  which  he  had 
referred.  He  had  been  equally  diligent  in  efforts  to 
disabuse  Nicodemus  of  his  error  anent  the  new  birth, 
explaining  that  his  language  was  figurative  and  re- 
ferred to  a  birth  by  water,  and  the  Holy  Ghost. 
When  the  Jews  asked:  "How  can  this  man  give  us  his 
flesh  to  eat?"  Does  our  Lord  explain  that  they  were 
not  to  literally  eat  his  flesh,  but  only  in  a  figure?  No, 
not  at  all,  but  he  makes  a  solemn  and  emphatic  af- 
firmation: "Amen,  amen  I  say  unto  you:  Except  you 
eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood, 
you  shall  not  have  life  in  you."  If  our  Lord  had  used 
a  figure,  there  would  have  been  a  hundred  reasons  to 
one  why  he  should  have  here  explained  himself,  rather 
than  in  the  other  instances. 

We   have   several   passages    in   the    New    Testament, 

3  Job  xix,   22. 


142  The  Holy  Eucharist 

where  our  Lord  meant  to  be  taken  figuratively,  and 
the  Jews  wrongly  took  his  words,  in  their  crude,  literal 
sense,  and  consequently  objected  to  his  doctrine.  We 
find  in  every  instance,  without  exception,  that  he  cor- 
rects them,  and  tells  them  in  plain  language  that  he 
did  not  mean  in  those  instances  to  be  taken  literally, 
but  in  a  figurative  sense.  But  in  our  case,  that  is  when 
announcing  himself  as  the  true  spiritual  food  of  our 
soul,  he  stands  to  his  words,  repeats  again  and  again 
the  obnoxious  expressions  and  requires  his  hearers  to 
believe  them.  Hence  we  must  conclude  that  our  blessed 
Saviour  intimated  no  correction  because  the  Jews  had 
understood  him  right  by  taking  his  expressions  to  the 
letter,  as  they  were  to  be  really  understood. 

It  is  evident  from  the  answers,  objections,  and  their 
subsequent  conduct,  that  all  who  heard  our  Saviour's 
words,  understood  him  to  mean  what  he  said;  for,  it 
could  by  no  means  be  regarded  as  a  "hard  saying,"  that 
they  were  occasionally  to  eat  a  piece  of  bread  in  mem- 
ory merely  of  the  speaker's  death.  No ;  the  offence 
came  with  the  literal  meaning.  Again  in  this  chapter 
our  Lord  says:  "Your  fathers  did  eat  manna  in  the 
desert,  and  are  dead.  ...  If  any  man  eat  of  this 
bread,  he  shall  live  forever;  and  the  bread  that  I  will 
give,  is  my  flesh,"  etc.  If  then  the  heavenly  manna 
was  intended  to  preserve  the  earthly  life  only,  and 
"the  living  bread,"  to  give  life  everlasting;  this  latter 
bread  must  be  infinitely  superior  to  the  former.  But 
if  this  last  named  bread  is,  as  protestants  say,  only 
commemorative  bread,  and  not  that  bread  which  our 


The  Holy  Eucharist  143 

Lord  said  was  his  flesh ;  then  it  can  in  no  way  compare 
with  that  miraculous  food  sent  from  heaven. 

The  objections  which  protestants  urge  against  the 
literal  meaning  of  these  texts,  are  precisely  the  same  as 
those  made  by  the  Jews,  and  both  spring  from  the 
same  source;  the  lack  of  faith.  Forgetting  that  God 
is  Almighty,  they  ask,  "how  can  he  give  us  his  flesh 
to  eat?"  "O  ye  of  little  faith";  you  see  the  rising  sun 
gild  mountain  peaks  and  pour  its  flood  of  light  over 
the  valley  below,  painting  the  lily  and  the  rose,  and 
awakening  to  life  a  new  day  out  of  yesterday's  to- 
morrow ;  you  see  new  life  spring  up  on  plain  and 
mountain-side,  see  rivers  broad  and  deep  on  their  wind- 
ing way  to  the  sea ;  the  "mighty  stars  of  hammered 
gold"  that  stud  the  firmament;  all  floral  life  and  forest 
trees ;  these  be  the  voiceless  preachers  that  lift  up 
holy  hands  proclaiming  Omnipotent,  the  power  that 
called  them  into  being.  Yet  man,  hearing  this  grand 
symphony  of  all  nature's  praise,  alone  desires  to  qualify 
his  belief  as  to  the  infinitude  of  God ! 

There  is  only  one  thing  which  God  cannot  do,  and 
that  is  what  involves  a  contradiction  as  the  simultaneous 
existence  and  non-existence  of  a  thing.  Of  such  things, 
as  St.  Thomas  Aquinas  tells  us,  instead  of  saying  that 
God  cannot  do  them,  we  should  rather  say  that  they 
cannot  be  done.  Now  no  man,  philosopher  or  critic, 
has  been  able  to  prove  that  the  prodigy  of  transubstan- 
tiation  involves  a  contradiction,  namely,  a  feat  which 
not  even  divine  Omnipotence  can  accomplish  because 
intrinsically  absurd. 

While   our   Lord   did   not   explain   away   the   evident 


144  The  Holy  Eucharist 

meaning  of  his  words — which  on  the  contrary  he  re- 
iterated to  an  unusual  extent — and  explained  clearly  in 
the  sixty-third  verse  of  this  chapter:  "If  then  you  shall 
see  the  Son  of  man  ascend  up  where  he  was  before?" 
By  the  miracle  of  his  future  ascension  Christ  meant  to 
prove  his  omnipotence,  and  consequently  the  power  of 
doing  what  the  change  of  the  elements  of  bread  and 
wine  into  his  body  and  blood  implied,  namely,  the  ex- 
ercise of  omnipotence.  To  prove  an  invisible  prodigy, 
that  of  transubstantiation,  he  appeals  to  a  visible  miracle 
that  of  his  miraculous  ascension,  both  requiring  divine 
omnipotence  for  their  performance,  as  if  he  had  said: 
"When  you  will  see  me  ascend  to  heaven  by  my  own 
inherent  power,  a  proof  of  my  divinity,  you  will  believe 
more  firmly  in  my  power  to  do  what  I  at  present  an- 
nounce to  you." 

"It  is  the  spirit  that  quickeneth ;  the  flesh  profiteth 
nothing;  the  words  that  I  have  spoken  to  you,  are 
spirit  and  life."  These  words  show,  that  as  our  divine 
Master  would  ascend  into  heaven  in  plain  sight,  with 
his  live  body  perfect  and  entire;  therefore  they  were 
not  to  eat  his  dead  flesh  in  the  usual  manner  in  which 
flesh  is  eaten  to  sustain  life,  for  such  an  eating  of  his 
flesh  would  indeed  profit  nothing,  as  he  came  to  give  us 
eternal  life,  and  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  Man  was  given 
to  preserve  the  divine  life  in  the  soul.  As  our  Lord 
said  that  the  bread  which  he  gave  was  his  flesh,  it  is 
clear  that  the  flesh  of  the  Saviour  of  mankind  was  to 
be  eaten  not  in  a  gross  and  common,  but  in  a  heavenly 
manner,  under  the  form  and  appearance  of  bread  and 
wine ;  for  the  divine  Son,  was  declared  by  the  Father, 


The  Holy  Eucharist  145 

to  be  a  Priest  forever  according  to  the  order  of  Mel- 
chisedeck,  who  offered  bread  and  wine." 

"The  bread  which  I  will  give  is  my  flesh,"  etc.  In 
the  Eucharistic  feast,  the  recipients  eat  not  the  dead 
flesh  which  would  profit  nothing,  but  with  a  most  sin- 
cere and  lively  faith,  the  living  flesh  with  the  soul  and 
divinity  of  the  Giver,  and  which  constitutes  the  living 
and  heavenly  bread,  which  if  a  man  eat,  "he  shall  live 
forever,"  and  without  which  "you  shall  not  have  life  in 
you."  Those  who  have  no  life  in  them  are  as  dead  as 
those  intending  disciples  who  were  so  quick  to  take 
offence,  were  discouraged  at  the  smallest  obstacles,  and 
who  failed  to  appreciate  the  dignity  and  beauty  of  a 
mystery  so  great,  a  mystery  which  contradicts  the  evi- 
dence of  the  senses  indeed,  but  not  the  power  of  God 
who  made  the  senses. 

It  is  the  teaching  of  the  Church  that  immediately  at 
the  words  of  consecration  by  the  priest,  there  no  longer 
remains  bread  and  wine,  there  having  been  effected  by 
the  power  of  the  Almighty,  a  change  of  the  bread  and 
wine  into  the  Body  and  Blood  of  our  divine  Lord,  the 
appearance  of  bread  and  wine  alone  remaining.  This 
change  the  Church  calls  Transubstantiation. 

Upon  this  doctrine,  the  reformers  and  their  descend- 
ants, have  waged  perpetual  warfare,  holding  that  its 
failure  to  agree  with  reason,  and  the  evidence  of  the 
senses,  discredits  it  in  the  eyes  of  the  learned. 

Mr.  Barnes,  in  his  notes  on  this  Gospel,  gives  voice  to 
the  general  complaint  in  these  words :  4  "Nothing  can 
possibly  be  more  absurd  than  to  suppose  that  when  our 

4  Barnes's  Notes,  p.  259. 


146  The  Holy  Eucharist 

Lord  instituted  the  Supper,  and  gave  the  bread  and  wine 
to  his  disciples,  they  literally  ate  his  flesh  and  drank  his 
blood.  Who  can  believe  this?  There  he  stood,  a  liv- 
ing man — his  body  yet  alive — his  blood  flowing  in  his 
veins ;  and  how  can  it  be  believed  that  this  body  was 
eaten  and  this  blood  drunk?  Yet  this  absurdity  must 
be  held  by  those  who  hold  that  the  bread  and  wine  at 
the  communion  are  'changed  into  the  body,  blood,  and 
the  divinity  of  our  Lord.'  So  it  is  taught  in  the  decrees 
of  the  Council  of  Trent ;  and  to  such  absurdities  are  men 
driven  when  they  depart  from  the  simple  meaning  of 
the  Scriptures,  and  from  common  sense." 

The  objection  here  brought  out,  is  the  assumed  ab- 
surdity of  the  doctrine,  and  its  lack  of  common  sense. 
In  this  statement  Mr.  Barnes  has  stated  the  protestant 
position  carefully  and  well.  The  goodly  number  of 
volumes  written  by  this  distinguished  divine  repose  in 
dignity  upon  the  shelves  of  countless  village  libraries 
and  in  many  thousand  homes  throughout  the  land,  they 
have  perhaps  in  their  day  done  more  than  the  works 
of  most  protestant  writers  in  stigmatizing  as  absurd  and 
foolish  the  teachings  of  the  Catholic  Church.  "Who 
can  believe  this?"  Who  can  believe  this  "absurd"  doc- 
trine, this  challenge  to  reason  and  common  sense? 

The  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  was  not  considered 
"absurd"  to  a  degree  sufficient  to  discourage  belief  in  it 
by  the  masses  throughout  the  world,  up  to  the  age  of 
unbelief  called  "The  Great  Reformation."  The  noble 
army  of  martyrs  that  suffered  under  the  Roman  Em- 
perors believed  this  doctrine.  Bishops  and  priests 
throughout  the  world  believed  it.  Popes  and  councils 


The  Holy  Eucharist  147 

taught  it.  The  first  Archbishop  of  Canterbury — whom 
our  Anglican  friends  delight  to  honor — taught  this  doc- 
trine. The  monks  who  suffered  spoliation  and  death,  in 
the  English  inquisition,  all  believed  this  "absurd"  doc- 
trine. The  Greek  Church  has  always  believed  it,  as 
have  the  other  Oriental  sects  that  once  enjoyed  com- 
munion with  the  Roman  See.  English  Catholics  were 
denied  all  positions  of  trust  under  Government  because 
they  believed  in  transubstantiation.  There  are  protest- 
ants  even  who  do  not  wholly  recognize  its  "absurdity." 

Lord  Macaulay  says :  "When  we  reflect  that  Sir 
Thomas  More  was  ready  to  die  for  the  doctrine  of 
transubstantiation,  we  cannot  but  feel  some  doubt 
whether  the  doctrine  may  not  triumph  over  all  opposi- 
tion. More  was  a  man  of  eminent  talents.  He  had  all 
the  information  on  the  subject  we  have,  and  while  the 
world  lasts  any  human  being  will  have.  We  are  there- 
fore unable  to  understand  why  Sir  Thomas  More's 
views  regarding  transubstantiation  may  not  be  believed 
to  the  end  of  time  by  men  equal  in  abilities  and  intellect 
to  Sir  Thomas  More." 

Let  us  now  inquire  whether  our  senses,  our  reason, 
and  our  common  sense,  are  competent  guides  to  the 
great  truths  of  religion.  It  has  long  been  a  custom 
among  mankind  to  eat  bread  and  drink  wine,  and  by 
what  may  be  called  a  natural  transubstantiation  agree- 
able to  God's  laws,  this  bread  and  this  wine  are  changed 
into  flesh  and  blood.  While  this  action  may  have  been 
going  on  before  our  eyes,  have  our  senses  been  aware 
of  the  change?  Does  not  the  grass  grow,  the  plant  bud 


148  The  Holy  Eucharist 

and  blossom  at  our  feet,  and  the  separate  acts  and 
movements  of  the  change  escape  our  notice? 

Ask  the  physician  who  has  dissected  the  human  form, 
at  what  stage  in  the  progress  of  the  work  his  reason 
and  common  sense  informed  him  that  he  had  reached 
the  exact  location  of  the  soul?  And  yet  our  faith,  in 
the  existence  of  the  soul,  is  not  dampened  by  the  fact 
that  its  existence  cannot  be  demonstrated  by  the  aid  of 
the  senses.  Mr.  Barnes,  in  his  desire  to  eradicate  a 
Catholic  doctrine,  has  had  recourse  to  the  favorite 
weapon  used  by  the  rationalists  in  their  efforts  to  de- 
stroy the  Christian  faith  by  denying  the  authority  of  all 
Revelation  from  God,  and  a  reliance  upon  reason  alone. 

We  find  on  experience  that  men  rejecting  one  or 
other  of  the  dogmas  of  the  Catholic  Church  will  seek 
to  justify  that  position  on  the  two  following  grounds : 
( 1 )  They  will  tell  us  that  they  cannot  accept,  for  instance, 
the  Church's  teaching  on  the  Eucharist,  because  it  in- 
volves an  unfathomable  mystery,  utterly  unintelligible 
and  incomprehensible  to  their  reason.  (2)  They  refuse 
to  believe  in  that  dogma  because  the  evidence  in  its 
support  is  insufficient,  and  incapable  of  bringing  convic- 
tion to  any  prudent  man. 

The  absurdity  of  the  first  plea  is  made  apparent  when 
we  recall  the  fact  that  to  reject  all  mystery  is,  in  sober 
truth,  to  reject  all  knowledge,  and  to  deny  the  incom- 
prehensible, because  incomprehensible,  is  to  deny  all  the 
most  necessary  and  universally  accepted  truths  in  nature, 
such  as  our  own  existence,  birth,  growth  and  faculties 
(whether  of  body  or  of  soul),  all  of  which  involve 
mysteries,  which  no  man  living  is  competent  to  solve. 


The  Holy  Eucharist  149 

Indeed,  there  is  not  a  grain  of  sand,  a  drop  of  morning 
dew,  a  film,  a  particle  of  dust,  but  contains  marvels 
and  mysteries  enough  to  crush  out  all  men's  assumption 
of  profound  knowledge,  and  to  bring  the  proudest  scien- 
tist down  upon  his  knees  in  wondering  admiration  and 
prostrate  prayer.  God  in  his  wise  and  benign  providence 
has  surrounded  us  with  mysteries  in  the  order  of  nature 
to  pave  the  way  to  and  facilitate  our  belief  and  accept- 
ance of  the  mysteries  of  grace. 

Secondly,  as  to  the  alleged  insufficiency  of  the  evidence 
brought  by  theologians  to  prove  the  truth  of  the  Real 
Presence  in  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar,  we  must  bear 
in  mind  the  following  remarks:  When  a  man,  such  as 
Mr.  Barnes,  objects  to  the  truth  of  transubstantiation 
because  no  ocular  or  experimental  proof  can  be  brought 
to  support  it,  he  tacitly  assumes  that  the  only  evidence 
of  any  value  is  that  which  is  intrinsic,  experimental, 
subject  to  the  testimony  of  the  senses.  Whoever  holds 
this  view  ignores  the  self-evident  fact  that  truth  may  be 
arrived  at  by  two  perfect  distinct  routes.  In  other 
words,  we  may  ascertain  truth  by  actual  experiment  and 
personal  investigation,  but  we  may  also  receive  it  on 
external  authority.  Although  the  second  method  is  es- 
sentially different  from  the  first,  yet,  it  is  not  on  that 
account  less  reliable.  Indeed,  there  are  cases  in  which 
it  is  far  more  so.  All  that  is  required  in  this  order 
of  truths  is  that  the  authority,  we  appeal  to,  should  pos- 
sess both  knowledge  and  veracity.  Now  what  is  our 
authority  regarding  all  articles  of  faith,  that  of  Holy 
Eucharist  included?  It  is  evidently  that  of  Christ  him- 
self, the  eternal  Son  of  God,  who  certainly  possessed  the 


150  The  Holy  Eucharist 

knowledge  of  the  Sacraments  he  himself  instituted,  and 
such  a  veracity  as  will  render  our  belief  and  submission 
eminently  reasonable.  Moreover,  it  must  be  noted  that 
of  the  truths,  facts  and  events  forming  the  subject  of 
man's  knowledge  by  far  the  greatest  number  can  be 
known  only  through  the  testimony  of  competent  authori- 
ties and  witnesses.  Such  are  the  facts  of  history  and 
the  data  of  the  extensive  field  of  natural  sciences,  which 
few  can  verify  for  themselves  and  must  consequently 
accept  on  the  testimony  of  others.  Religious  truths  and 
the  dogmas  of  faith  generally  do  not  admit  of  being 
proved  in  any  other  way.  Thus  it  is  intrinsically  im- 
possible to  demonstrate  mathematically  or  experimentally 
or  by  personal  observation  the  power  of  sacramental  ab- 
solution, or  the  spiritual  effects  of  baptism,  or  the  truth 
of  the  real  presence  of  Christ  in  Holy  Eucharist.  The 
only  demonstration,  of  which  they  are  capable,  is  that 
of  appeal  to  competent  authority,  which  in  all  truths  of 
the  supernatural  order  is  the  testimony  and  authority  of 
God  himself,  who  revealed  them.  Hence  to  reject  super- 
natural mysteries  because  they  are  incomprehensible  to 
human  reason  we  have  already  shown  to  be  absurd ; 
but  to  reject  them  because  we  cannot  apply  to  them  ex- 
perimental methods  is  more  absurd  still.  (See  "Faith 
and  Folly,"  by  Monsignor  Vaughan.) 

When  the  Almighty  made  a  small  portion  of  the 
earth's  surface  into  the  flesh  and  blood  of  our  first  par- 
ents, must  it  not  have  been  a  change  of  one  substance 
into  another?  Would  Mr.  Barnes,  and  other  rational- 
ists, consider  the  record  of  the  occurrence  comprehensi- 
ble by  the  aid  of  reason  and  common  sense?  Is  it  more 


The  Holy  Eucharist  151 

difficult  of  comprehension,  more  absurd,  that  he  who 
could  change  the  common  earth  into  flesh  and  blood, 
could  by  the  same  Almighty  power  change  bread  and 
wine  into  flesh  and  blood?  And  yet  Mr.  Barnes  be- 
lieves the  first,  and  derides  the  second.  Surely  this  must 
be  strange  reasoning,  most  uncommon  sense! 

It  may  occur  to  our  friends  to  raise  a  further  ob- 
jection. "If  it  be  admitted,"  say  they,  "that  the  Al- 
mighty can  change  bread  and  wine  into  the  Body  and 
Blood  of  Christ,  by  what  right  do  your  priests  essay 
to  do  the  work  of  the  Creator?"  As  his  agents,  by  his 
command ;  even  as  5  Moses  and  Aaron  turned  a  rod 
into  a  serpent,  and  a  serpent  into  a  rod;  and  turned 
the  rivers  into  blood  in  the  land  of  Egypt.  If  a  man 
under  the  Old  dispensation  could  by  the  assistance  of 
God  do  these  works,  why  not  a  man  under  the  New 
dispensation,  with  like  assistance,  turn  wine  into  blood? 
Having  brought  these  considerations  to  the  reader's  no- 
tice, let  us  pass  to  the  institution  of  this  great  Sacra- 
ment of  love,  on  the  eve  of  our  Redeemer's  Passion. 

As  in  the  common  law  the  greatest  value  is  placed 
upon  an  ante-mortem  statement,  so  here  "in  the  valley 
of  the  shadow  of  death,"  as  he  was  about  to  lay  down 
his  life  for  us  all,  we  may  expect  that  every  declaration 
will  be  in  language  clear  and  plain,  that  no  contention 
over  the  meaning  may  arise  in  future  time. 

Here  our  divine  Lord  makes  his  last  Will  and  Testa- 
ment, here  he  bequeathes  to  us  his  Body  and  his  Blood. 
Now  surely  our  dear  Lord  knew  what  he  wished  to 
give  us.  He  had  stated  many  times,  that  it  was  his 

5  Exodus  iv. 


152  The  Holy  Eucharist 

flesh  and  blood  that  he  was  to  give  for  the  life  of  the 
world.  "He  that  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my 
blood,  hath  everlasting  life;  and  I  will  raise  him  up  at 
the  last  day.  For  my  flesh  is  meat  indeed,  and  my  blood 
is  drink  indeed."  And  again,  "for  this  is  my  blood  of 
the  New  Testament."  How  was  it  possible  for  any  one 
to  speak  more  plainly  in  making  their  last  Will,  than  is 
here  spoken?  It  has  been  shown  how  our  Lord  ex- 
plained all  this,  that  there  might  be  nothing  repulsive 
to  his  children,  by  showing  how  they  were  to  eat  his 
flesh  and  drink  his  blood  unto  life  everlasting,  under 
the  appearance  of  bread  and  wine!  What  a  loving 
thought;  that  having  gone  up  where  he  was  before, 
yet  on  every  Christian  Altar  in  the  world,  the  loving 
Saviour  still  tabernacles  with  men. 

Bread  and  wine  were  never  figures  of  our  Lord's 
body  and  blood.  It  was  the  Old  Law  that  dealt  in 
figures,  in  the  New  Law  we  have  the  reality;  but  if 
bread  is  a  figure  of  his  body,  we  have  instead  of  the 
reality,  but  the  substitution  of  one  figure  for  another. 
Bread  and  wine  rather  than  being  symbolic  of  the  suf- 
ferings and  death  of  the  Redeemer,  are  properly  the 
emblems  of  feasting  and  joy. 

In  the  Syro-Chaldaic  language  which  our  Lord  spoke, 
there  are  forty  or  more  words  that  mean,  to  represent; 
if  then  the  Master  had  not  meant  literally  "this  is  my 
body,"  knowing  that  the  Catholic  Church  laboring  under 
the  mistake  of  a  literal  interpretation  of  his  words, 
would  teach  millions  of  souls  a  gross  error,  is  it  not 
strange  that  he  should  neglect  to  set  us  right,  when  we 


The  Holy  Eucharist  153 

think  how  easy  in  his  language  it  was  to  say  instead  of 
"this  is,"  this  represents,  my  body? 

It  is  now  time  to  inquire  what  the  teaching  and 
practice  of  the  Apostles  concerning  this  doctrine  was, 
for  if  they  taught  that  it  was  bread  and  wine  only  that 
was  given  and  received  in  the  Sacrament  of  the  Altar, 
that  must  have  been  the  correct  teaching.  The  Apostles, 
taught  by  our  Lord  and  commissioned  by  him  to  teach 
all  nations,  must  have  known  all  there  was  to  know 
about  it. 

At  the  assembling  of  the  Church  at  Corinth,  a  letter 
was  read  from  the  Apostle  Paul,  in  which  these  words 
occur :  6  "The  chalice  of  benediction  which  we  bless, 
is  it  not  the  communion  of  the  blood  of  Christ?  And 
the  bread  which  we  break,  is  it  not  the  partaking  of 
the  body  of  the  Lord?  .  .  .  For  I  have  received  of 
the  Lord  that  which  also  I  delivered  to  you,  that  the 
Lord  Jesus,  on  the  night  in  which  he  was  betrayed, 
took  bread,  and  giving  thanks,  broke,  and  said:  Take 
ye,  and  eat:  this  is  my  body  which  shall  be  delivered 
for  you:  this  do  for  the  commemoration  of  me.  In 
like  manner  also  the  chalice,  after  he  had  supped,  say- 
ing: This  chalice  is  the  New  Testament  in  my  blood: 
this  do  ye,  as  often  as  you  shall  drink  it  for  the  com- 
memoration of  me.  For  as  often  as  you  shall  eat  this 
bread,  and  drink  the  chalice,  you  shall  show  the  death 
of  the  Lord,  until  he  come.  Wherefore  whosoever  shall 
eat  this  bread,  or  drink  the  chalice  of  the  Lord  unworth- 
ily, shall  be  guilty  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord. 
But  let  a  man  prove  himself;  and  so  let  him  eat  of  that 

o  I  Cor.   x,   16,   and  xi,   23-29. 
8 


154  The  Holy  Eucharist 

bread  and  drink  of  the  chalice.  For  he  that  eateth 
and  drinketh  unworthily,  eateth  and  drinketh  judgment 
to  himself,  not  discerning  the  body  of  the  Lord." 

As  our  Lord  in  the  Gospel,  gave  no  hint  of  a  figure 
used,  so  here  the  apostle  quotes  from  the  same  without 
giving  the  slightest  intimation  to  show  that  it  was  not 
meant  literally,  but  at  the  close  of  the  quotation  gives 
the  sentences  that  show  beyond  question  that  it  was  so 
meant;  for  it  is  not  understandable  that  in  the  first 
place,  bread  and  wine  could  be  received  by  the  faithful 
unworthily ;  and  in  the  second  place  by  so  doing  become 
guilty  of  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord! 

Here  another  glorious  opportunity  was  given  to  cor- 
rect a  misapprehension,  and  teach  the  Church  at  Corinth 
that  they  were  to  rely  upon  a  figurative  interpretation 
of  the  Saviour's  words,  and  understand  once  for  all 
that,  "this  is  my  body,"  means,  this  is  not  my  body. 
But  what  does  the  Apostle  say?  He  cautions  them 
against  receiving  this  august  Sacrament  unworthily  by 
failing  to  discern  therein  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord. 
Now  how  could  they  be  considered  reprovable  for  not 
discerning  that  which  was  not  there? 

The  Apostle  instructs  them  to  make  all  possible  prep- 
aration for  the  reception  of  the  Blessed  Sacrament  by 
7  "proving  themselves,"  which  proving  was  necessarily 
the  examination  of  their  consciences  and  confession  of 
their  sins,  no  other  "proving"  being  conceivable.  So 
they  proved  themselves  lest  by  an  unworthy  communion 
they  should  eat  and  drink  judgment  to  themselves,  by 

7  I   Cor.   xlii,   5. 


The  Holy  Eucharist 

their  failure  to  discern  the  body  and  blood  of  the  Lord 
present  in  the  Sacrament. 

The  protestant  commentators  are  especially  desirous 
of  making  a  part  of  the  truth  concerning  the  Eucharistic 
Feast,  the  full  measure  of  it.  8  "In  remembrance  of 
me,"  "This  expresses  the  whole  design  of  the  ordinance. 
.  To  recall  in  a  striking  and  impressive  manner 
the  memory  of  the  Redeemer." 

It  is  an  old  habit  with  our  protestant  friends,  this 
retiring  to  the  background  those  subjects  which  to  them 
are  painful,  and  concerning  themselves  only  with  those 
that  are  comforting  and  agreeable. 

The  fact  that  the  Eucharist  is  a  commemorative  feast, 
does  not  in  anyway  militate  against  those  most  solemn 
asseverations  of  our  Lord,  before  quoted,  concerning  the 
presence  of  his  flesh  and  blood  in  the  Sacrament. 

Mr.  Barnes  explains  the  twenty-sixth  and  twenty-sev- 
enth verses.  "For  as  often  as  ye  eat  this  bread." 
9  "This  is  a  direct  and  positive  refutation  of  the  papists 
that  the  bread  is  changed  into  the  real  body  of  the 
Lord  Jesus.  Here  it  is  expressly  called  bread — bread 
still,  bread  after  the  consecration.  Before  the  Saviour 
instituted  the  ordinance  he  took  'bread' — it  was  bread 
then :  it  was  'bread'  which  he  'blessed'  and  'brake' ;  and 
it  was  bread  when  it  was  given  to  them.  Paul  still 
calls  it  bread,  and  shows  thus  that  he  was  a  stranger  to 
the  doctrine"  of  Transubstantiation.  "Had  the  papal 
doctrine  .  .  .  been  true,  Paul  could  not  have  called 
it  bread.  The  Romanists  do  not  believe  that  it  is  bread, 

8  "Barnes'  Notes,"  I  Cor.,  p.   234. 

9  "Barnes"   Notes,"   Cor.  xi,  pp.   234-235. 


156  The  Holy  Eucharist 

nor  would  they  call  it  such ;  and  this  shows  how  need- 
ful it  is  for  them  to  keep  the  Scriptures  from  the  peo- 
ple, and  how  impossible  to  express  their  dogmas  in  the 
language  of  the  Bible.  Let  Christians  adhere  to  the 
simple  language  of  the  Bible,  and  there  is  no  danger  of 
falling  into  the  errors  of  the  papists." 

It  cannot  be  true,  that  what  our  divine  Saviour  gave 
to  his  disciples  saying:  "Take  eat,"  was  bread,  because 
he  distinctly  said  it  was  his  body.  Not  a  figure,  "but 
this  is  my  body."  Not  in  this,  or  with  this,  but  "this 
is  my  body,"  and  what  is  this  but  Transubstantiation  in 
the  simple  language  of  the  Bible? 

It  cannot  be  true,  as  Mr.  Barnes  says,  that  "Roman- 
ists" do  not  call  the  Blessed  Sacrament  bread,  for  they 
often  do.  Our  divine  Redeemer  spoke  of  himself  as 
bread,  and  we  may  follow  his  example.  Common  bread? 
Oh!  no,  Mr.  Barnes,  certainly  not;  but  the  bread  of 
life — not  material  life — but  the  life  of  the  soul.  This  is 
the  bread  which  came  down  from  heaven,  the  bread 
which  was  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  such  as  St. 
Paul  warns  the  Corinthians  against  receiving  unworthily, 
not  discerning  the  body  of  the  Lord.  This — the  Blessed 
Sacrament — is  the  bread  which  if  a  man  eat  he  shall 
never  hunger,  and  to  which  is  attached  the  promise  of 
a  glorious  resurrection  at  the  last  day.  This  is  the  bread 
which  is  his  flesh,  given  for  the  life  of  the  world,  and 
which  if  you  eat  not,  you  have  no  life  in  you,  for  as 
common  bread  is  the  life  of  the  body,  so  this  bread  which 
is  the  Redeemer's  flesh,  gives  life  to  the  soul. 

The  Blessed  Sacrament  is  also  often  spoken  of  as 
bread,  because  it  was  bread  before  consecration,  and 


The  Holy  Eucharist  157 

after-  consecration  retains  the  appearance  and  likeness 
of  bread;  as  a  person  after  baptism  retains  his  features 
and  general  appearance,  and  is  easily  recognized  by  all 
who  knew  him  before;  but  if  the  sacrament  has  been 
rightly  administered  and  received,  a  wonderful  change 
has  been  wrought,  a  vessel  of  wrath  having  become  one 
of  election.  There  has  been  a  new  birth,  he  appears 
to  be  the  same  person,  but  in  reality  he  is  a  new  crea- 
ture in  Christ;  he  is  not  the  same  as  before,  although 
he  looks  the  same  and  answers  to  the  same  name. 

This  Sacrament  of  the  Holy  Eucharist  is  a  divine 
Mystery  which  if  man's  reason  could  fathom  with  its 
rod  and  measuring  line,  it  would  be  man's  reason  no 
longer.  We  should  all  be  Gods. 

That  the  rationalist  who  professes  to  believe  only  that 
which  he  can  understand,  should  reject  this  Mystery, 
creates  no  surprise,  but  that  Christians,  who  believe  the 
Mystery  of  the  Incarnation,  and  so  many  others  equally 
incomprehensible  to  reason,  should  reject  this  Sacra- 
ment so  full  of  consolation  and  refreshing  sweetness ; 
the  source  of  the  soul's  very  life;  the  well-spring  of  all 
Christian  graces;  the  bread  of  heaven  that  gives  life  to 
the  world — this,  indeed,  is  surprising! 

So  prominently  was  the  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence 
taught  and  practiced  in  the  early  Church,  that  the  first 
annalists  tell  us  how  the  heathen,  having  become  aware 
that  the  Christians  in  the  catacombs  practiced  some 
mysterious  rite,  in  which  flesh  was  eaten  and  blood  was 
drunk,  in  their  ignorance  and  hatred  of  the  new  re- 
ligion, so  misrepresented  what  they  had  heard,  as  to 
turn  it  into  a  tale  which  afterwards  proved  a  factor 


158  The  Holy  Eucharist 

in  accounting  for  the  persecutions  under  the  Roman 
Emperors,  namely,  that  the  Christians  met  secretly  and, 
causing  a  child  to  be  killed,  eat  its  flesh  and  drank  its 
blood. 

According  to  Cardinal  Gibbons,  10  "St.  Ignatius,  a 
disciple  of  St.  Peter,  speaking  of  a  sect  called  Gnostics, 
says:  'They  abstain  from  the  Eucharist  and  prayer,  be- 
cause they  confess  not  that  the  Eucharist  is  the  flesh  of 
our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.'  St.  Justin,  Martyr,  to  the 
Emperor  Antoninus,  writes  in  the  second  century:  'We 
do  not  receive  these  things  as  common  bread  and  drink ; 
but  as  Jesus  Christ  our  Saviour  was  made  flesh  by  the 
word  of  God,  even  so  we  have  been  taught  that  the 
Eucharist  is  both  the  flesh  and  the  blood  of  the  same 
incarnate  Jesus/  Origen  in  the  third  century  writes: 
'If  thou  wilt  go  up  with  Christ  to  celebrate  the  Pass- 
over he  will  give  to  thee  that  bread  of  benediction,  his 
own  body,  and  will  vouchsafe  to  thee  his  own  blood/ 
St.  Cyril  in  the  fourth  century  says:  'He  himself  hav- 
ing declared,  This  is  my  body,  who  shall  dare  to  doubt 
it?  And  he  having  said,  This  is  my  blood,  who  shall 
ever  doubt,  saying:  This  is  not  his  blood?  ...  In 
the  type  of  bread  is  given  to  thee  the  body,  and  in  the 
type  of  wine  is  given  to  thee  the  blood,  in  order  that 
having  partaken  of  Christ's  body  and  blood  thou  might- 
est  become  one  in  body  and  blood  with  him.  For  thus 
also  do  we  become  Christ-bearers ;  his  body  and  blood 
being  diffused  through  our  members.  Thus  do  we  be- 
come according  to  the  blessed  Peter,  partakers  of  the 
divine  nature/  '' 

10  "The  Faith  of  Our  Fathers/'   p.   339. 


The  Holy  Eucharist  159 

Saint  Augustine  in  the  fifth  century  says :  "The 
bread  which  you  see  on  the  altar,  after  being  sanctified 
by  the  word  of  God,  is  the  body  of  Christ.  That  chalice, 
after  being  sanctified  by  the  word  of  God,  is  the  blood 
of  Christ."  "It  is  indeed,"  says  St.  Ambrose,  "a  mar- 
velous thing  that  God  rained  down  manna  for  the 
fathers,  and  that  they  were  fed  with  daily  food  from 
heaven.  Whence  it  is  said,  'Men  eat  the  bread  of 
angels.'  And  yet  all  who  eat  that  bread  died  in  the 
desert.  But  this  food  which  thou  receivest,  this  living 
bread  that  cometh  down  from  heaven,  supplies  us  with 
the  substance  of  eternal  life;  and  whosoever  shall  have 
eaten  this  living  bread  shall  never  die;  and  it  is  the 
body  of  Christ,"  that  is,  shall  live  forever  in  the  glory 
of  the  risen  body  according  to  these  words  of  Christ: 
"He  that  eateth  my  flesh  and  drinketh  my  blood  hath 
everlasting  life  and  I  will  raise  him  up  in  the  last  day." 
John  vi,  64.  Cardinal  Gibbons  says :  "The  Fathers 
of  the  Church,  without  exception,  re-echo  the  language 
of  the  Apostle  of  the  Gentiles,  by  proclaiming  the  Real 
Presence  in  the  Eucharist.  I  have  counted  the  names 
of  sixty-three  Fathers  flourishing  between  the  first  and 
the  sixth  century,  all  of  whom  proclaim  the  Real 
Presence,  some  by  explaining  the  mystery,  others  by 
thanking  God  for  it,  and  others  by  exhorting  the  faith- 
ful to  its  worthy  reception." 

That  the  doctrine  of  the  Real  Presence  in  the  Eu- 
charist was  the  doctrine  taught  by  the  Apostles  and 
their  successors  in  the  first  centuries,  these  few  extracts 
from  their  writings  show.  That  the  same  doctrine 
was  taught  throughout  the  course  of  Ages,  the  pages 


160  The  Holy  Eucharist 

of  the  historian  containing  the  records  of  how  bishops, 
priests  and  people  died  martyrs  for  the  truth  of  it, 
sufficiently  attest. 

Had  the  protestant  doctrine  of  a  simple  commem- 
orative feast  been  the  one  taught  in  the  beginning,  the 
ease  with  which  it  could  be  understood,  and  practiced, 
would  have  made  the  work  of  changing  the  belief  of 
Christians  from  an  easy  to  an  hard  saying — with  the 
attendant  humiliating  requirement  of  a  full  confession 
of  their  sins  in  the  work  of  "proving  themselves, "- 
extremely  difficult  and  highly  improbable.  Men  are  not 
pleased  with  the  thought  of  taking  up  new  burdens,  but 
are  easily  reconciled  to  the  laying  down  of  the  old.  The 
theory  of  protestants  that  Catholic  doctrine  is  the  out- 
come of  many  additions  to  the  more  simple  faith  of  the 
earlier  centuries  is,  for  the  reasons  given,  a  theory 
adverse  to  the  natural  sequence  of  events  in  the  his- 
tory of  mankind.11  As  in  the  beautiful  garden  of  Para- 
dise, God  walked  and  talked  with  man ;  as  in  the  Ark 
of  the  Covenant  he  dwelt  to  be  the  comfort  of  his 
chosen  people,  the  wise  counselor  of  his  servant  Moses ; 
as  from  the  mercy-seat  he  gave  just  judgment,  and 
from  the  cloud  that  hid  His  face  the  majesty  of  his  glory 
shone;  so  in  the  New  Covenant  under  the  sacramental 
veils  which  hide  the  brightness  of  that  face  we  may 
not  look  upon  and  live;  the  Real  Presence,  on  the 
mercy-seat  in  the  tabernacles  on  our  altars,  waiting  our 
pleasure  to  give  us  all  that  God  has  to  give,  even  him- 
self; is  the  most  consummate  expression  of  compas- 

11  See  Chap.  II. 


The  Holy  Eucharist  161 

sionate  love,  that  in  the  ages  past  has  marked  the 
dwelling  on  earth  of  God  with  men. 

In  the  Old  Covenant,  God  is  present  with  his  chosen 
people  as  the  Great  Lawgiver,  the  Counselor,  the 
Judge;  but  in  the  New  Covenant,  he  gives  us  himself 
entire  in  the  Sacrament  of  the  altar,  and  takes  up  his 
abode  within  us  in  the  most  perfect  and  loving  union 
with  our  frail  and  mortal  flesh.  He  is  therefore  more 
truly  Emmanuel  in  the  New  Covenant  than  in  the  Old. 
In  this  way  the  superiority  of  the  Christian  dispensa- 
tion in  its  bringing  mankind  to  a  chosen  and  more  in- 
timate union  with  God,  is  clearly  discernible.  On  Cal- 
vary's height  upon  the  altar  of  the  cross  our  divine 
Lord  gave  his  life  once  for  us  all,  but  on  our  altars  he 
daily  dies  a  mystic  death,  that  we  may  have  our  "daily 
bread,"  the  "bread  of  benediction,"  the  "bread  which 
is  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,"  by  which  we  live, 
without  which  we  die. 

It  is  the  Real  Presence,  on  our  altars,  that  makes 
our  Churches  a  very  heaven  upon  earth;  the  home 
of  the  poor  and  distressed,  the  magnet  that  draws  our 
willing  feet  to  the  heavenly  portals.  It  is  the  Real 
Presence,  that  makes  the  distinguishing  difference  be- 
tween the  behavior  of  catholics  and  protestants  in 
church.  It  is  the  Real  Presence  that  has  caused  many 
a  protestant  to  confess  to  an  unaccountable  feeling  of 
solemnity  and  peacefulness  in  our  Churches,  even  as 
the  disciples  journeying  by  the  way  felt  their  hearts 
burn  within  them  as  they  talked  with  Jesus  but  knew 
him  not. 

Protestants  cannot  remain  oblivious  of  the  fact  that 


162  The  Holy  Eucharist 

our  Church  doors  stand  invitingly  open  from  early 
morning  till  late  at  night,  every  day  in  the  year,  and 
have  often  expressed  the  desire  that  their  churches 
might  be  kept  open  as  well;  but  apart  from  the  senti- 
ment and  the  better  ventilation  of  the  house,  it  is  not 
easy  to  see  in  what  the  advantage  could  consist.  The 
protestant  indeed  will  maintain  that  his  church  is  the 
House  of  God,  but  if  you  press  him  upon  the  subject, 
he  will  take  refuge  in  the  general  and  manifest  truism, 
that  God  is  everywhere.  If  by  chance  the  protestant 
should  enter  the  sacred  edifice  belonging  to  his  sect, 
upon  a  week-day,  the  probability  is,  that  the  empty  "aud- 
itorium" would  offer  him  no  suggestion  as  to  the  pro- 
priety of  removing  his  protestant  hat. 

It  is  the  Real  Presence,  in  God's  House,  that  induces 
men,  in  the  hurry  and  bustle  of  life,  as  they  pass  by, 
to  lift  the  hat  and  bend  the  head;  and  those  at  leisure 
to  visit  the  August  Prisoner  of  Love  upon  the  altar. 
It  is  the  Real  Presence  within  that  keeps  our  church 
doors  always  open,  and  brings  some  quiet  worshiper 
every  hour;  while  in  contradistinction,  the  bolted  and 
barred  temples  of  the  unbelievers  in  God's  word,  the 
rejectors  of  the  sweetest  mystery  of  the  faith,  the  Real 
Presence, — stand  silent,  vacant,  and  lone. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 
OF  COMMUNION  IN  ONE  KIND. 

It  has  always  been  the  belief  of  catholics,  that  in 
receiving  the  Holy  Eucharist,  our  divine  Lord  is  received 
whole  and  entire  under  either  species,  as  it  is  impossible 
to  conceive  of  Christ  as  being  divided,  or  the  living 
flesh  being  separated  from  its  natural  and  proper  pro- 
portion of  blood.  The  clergy  when  offering  the  sacrifice, 
receive  in  both  kinds,  but  not  otherwise.  Our  Lord 
said:  I  am  the  living  bread,  etc.  If " any  man  eat  of 
this  bread  he  shall  live  forever,  and  again:  He  that 
eateth  Me,  the  same  also  shall  live  by  Me.  Here  all 
the  efficacy  of  the  sacrament  is  attributed  to  its  recep- 
tion under  one  kind.  The  command  of  our  Saviour: 
Drink  ye  all  of  this,  was  given  not  to  the  people  in 
general,  but  to  the  Apostles  in  particular.  The  protest- 
ant  Leibnitz  says :  1  "It  cannot  be  denied  that  Christ 
is  received  entire  by  virtue  of  concomitance,  under  each 
species ;  nor  is  his  flesh  separated  from  his  blood." 

2  "It  is  true  that  our  Lord  said  to  the  people :  Unless 
ye  eat  the  flesh  of  the  Son  of  man,  and  drink  his  blood, 
ye  shall  not  have  life  in  you!9  But  this  command  is 
literally  fulfilled  by  the  laity  when  they  partake  of  the 
consecrated  bread,  which,  as  we  have  seen,  contains 
Christ  the  Lord  in  all  his  integrity.  Hence,  if  our 

1  Systema  Theol.,  p.  250. 

2  "Faith  of  Our  Fathers,"   p.   344,   Gibbons. 


164          Of  Communion  in  One  Kind 

Saviour  has  said:  Whoso  eatcth  my  flesh  and  drinketh 
my  blood,  hath  everlasting  life;  He  has  also  said:  The 
bread  which  I  shall  give  is  my  flesh,  for  the  life  of  the 
world.  The  charge  of  withholding  the  cup  comes  with 
very  bad  grace  from  protestant  teachers,  who  destroy 
the  whole  intrinsic  virtue  of  the  Sacrament  by  giving 
to  their  followers  nothing  but  bread  and  wine.  The 
difference  between  them  and  us  lies  in  this,  that  under 
one  form  we  give  the  substance  while  they  under  two 
forms  confessedly  give  only  the  shadow." 

3  "It  is  admitted,  that,  from  the  earliest  time,  down 
to  the  twelfth  century,  the  laity  as  well  as  clergy,  when 
they  assisted  at  the  public  and  solemn  celebration  and 
were  admitted  to  communion,  generally  received  under 
both  kinds.  But,  during  the  same  period,  there  seems 
never  to  have  been  any  positive  ecclesiastical  precept 
to  do  so,  prior  to  the  law  passed  by  Gelasius;  for  to 
infants,  we  often  read  that  the  communion  was  given, 
sometimes  under  one  species,  sometimes  under  both; 
again  in  times  of  persecution,  or  under  difficulties,  such 
as  the  Ascetics  labored  under,  or  when  long  journeys 
were  undertaken,  the  consecrated  bread  was  permitted  to 
be  carried  away  from  the  church,  for  private  com- 
munion; the  same  was  taken  to  the  sick  who  com- 
municated of  the  Eucharist  that  was  reserved  for  their 
use;  where  there  was  a  repugnance  to  the  taste  of  wine, 
the  bread  also  was  given  alone;  and  finally  there  is 
evidence  to  show,  that  even  in  the  public  and  solemn 
administration  of  the  Eucharist,  it  was  in  some  parts 

3  "Faith  of  Catholics,"  p.  377. 


Of  Communion  in  One  Kind  165 

at  least  of  the  church  optional  to  receive  under  one  kind 
or  under  both. 

"It  may  then,  it  seems,  be  said,  the  faithful  in  the 
times  of  ivhich  we  are  speaking,  generally  received  under 
one  kind  alone;  while  the  priesthood,  to  whom  the  com- 
mand of  Christ,  Do  this  for  a  commemoration  of  me, 
we  believe  solely  applies,  when  employed  in  the  duty 
of  their  sacred  function,  received  under  both  species. 
The  completion  of  the  mysterious  institution  demanded 
this.  But  many  abuses  and  accidents,  through  care- 
lessness or  incaution,  happening  in  the  distribution  of 
the  consecrated  wine;  and  the  use  of  the  consecrated 
bread  alone,  on  so  many  occasions  being  permitted;  and 
the  belief  that  Christ  was  wholly  present  under  both 
species  authorizing  the  practice;  the  primitive  rite  grad- 
ually subsided  and  communion  in  one  kind,  even  in  pub- 
lic, very  generally  prevailed." 

It  was  not  until  the  fifteenth  century  when  the  dis- 
ciples of  John  Huss  declared  the  necessity  of  receiving 
in  both  kinds,  that  a  law  was  made  that  the  laity — and 
popes,  bishops  and  priests  also  except  when  celebrating 
Mass,  should  receive  in  one  kind  only. 

Our  protestant  friends,  actuated  by  the  kindest  feel- 
ings towards  us,  offer  their  sympathy  and  condolence 
for  the  loss  of  the  cup;  but  while  they  are  so  particular 
about  the  cup,  they  seem  not  over  particular  in  regard 
to  the  contents  of  the  cup;  some  using  wine  and  some 
raisin  water,4  and  an  English  traveler  in  far  away  Bur- 
mah  saw  in  a  mission  protestant  church,  Bass's  pale  ale 
used  at  the  communion  service.  In  some  countries 

4  N.  Y.  Independent,  Sept.  21,  1876. 


1 66          Of  Communion  in  One  Kind 

where  the  grape  is  not  cultivated  it  is  often  difficult, 
and  always  expensive  to  procure  wine  suitable  for  church 
use  at  the  altar. 

The  Catholic  Church  is  supposed  to  possess  something 
like  two  hundred  and  seventy-five  millions  of  adherents. 
It  would  be  a  very  low  estimate  to  put  the  number  of 
communions  made  during  the  year  at  two  each  for 
this  number,  but  even  this  would  amount  to  five  hun- 
dred millions!  It  is  the  custom  of  some  catholics  to 
receive  communion  every  day,  a  larger  number  every 
week  and  on  holy  days,  and  a  very  large  number  indeed 
once  a  month.  The  number  of  communions  therefore 
each  year  throughout  the  entire  world,  would,  could 
they  be  known,  seem  almost  fabulous,  and  the  incon- 
venience and  expense  attending  the  furnishing  of  wine 
for  such  a  host  would  be  something  enormous. 

It  often  happens  that  in  our  large  churches  in  cities, 
many  hundreds  come  to  communion  at  a  single  Mass ; 
to  provide  all  with  individual  cups,  would  be  well-nigh 
impossible  and  quite  absurd,  and  for  all  to  drink  from 
one  cup,  highly  insanitary  if  not  positively  repulsive. 

However,  as  the  custom  of  some  churches  of  the 
Eastern  Rite  is  to  receive  under  both  kinds ;  should 
any  good  reason  for  the  same  practice  by  the  church 
at  large  be  ultimately  found,  a  like  practice  might,  as 
has  been  the  case  in  the  past — be  permitted  or  enjoined ; 
but  the  faith,  that  Christ,  whole  and  entire  is  present  as 
truly  under  one  kind  as  both,  is  not  and  never  can  be 
subject  to  revision. 


CHAPTER   IX. 
THE  HOLY  SACRIFICE  OF  THE  MASS. 

With  God's  great  searchlight  turned  upon  them,  our 
first  parents  sadly  realized  that,  in  their  fatal  sin  of 
ambition,  they  had  lost  primeval  innocence,  their  Cre- 
ator's love,  and  Eden.  The  earth,  for  them,  cursed  and 
given  to  the  bringing  forth  of  thorns  and  thistles;  the 
legacy  left  posterity,  sin  and  death. 

We  may  well  imagine  the  grief  that  bowed  them  to 
the  ground  as  clad  in  skins,  the  emblems  of  their  fall,  the 
troublesome  disguises  of  their  shame,  the  father  and 
mother  of  our  race,  driven  by  the  Angel  of  the  Flaming 
Sword,  went  forth  from  the  shining  gates  of  paradise. 

We  may  well  imagine  too  that  their  sorrow  was  not 
entirely  the  result  of  God's  judgments  upon  them,  the 
cursing  of  the  earth;  the  sweat  of  toil;  the  exile  from 
Eden ;  but  was  largely  in  the  consciousness  of  their 
ingratitude  to  their  Creator,  and  they  were  forced  to 
acknowledge  that  in  justice  they  should  offer  their  lives 
as  a  sacrifice  for  their  sin.  But  an  offended  God 
desired  the  love,  not  the  death  of  his  children ;  so  here, 
at  the  first  shedding  of  tears  on  earth,  God's  mercy 
abounds.  For  though  sin  had  come  into  the  world,  and 
death  by  sin,  yet  a  way  of  escape  for  the  penitent  sinner 
had  been  found  through  faith  in  a  Redeemer  to  come. 
To  keep  constantly  before  the  sinner's  mind  his  obli- 
gations to  the  Redeemer,  who,  by  his  vicarious  suffer- 


168        The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass 

ings  was  to  purchase  pardon  and  by  his  obedience  give 
to  God  honor  far  in  excess  of  that  dishonor  wrought 
by  the  fall, — Sacrifice  was  instituted. 

The  innocent  lamb,  sacrificed  on  the  altar,  was  under- 
stood to  be  the  figure  of  the  spotless  Lamb  of  God 
offered  on  the  altar  of  the  cross  for  the  sins  of  the 
whole  world.  Thus  the  looking  forward  to  a  promised 
Redeemer,  and  the  acknowledgment  that  the  Creator  was 
the  Supreme  Lord  of  all  and  the  Sovereign  Master  of 
life  and  death,  were  among  the  chief  intentions  of  all 
sacrifices  under  the  Jewish  law.  To  these  intentions — 
present  in  all  sacrifices — were  added  offerings  of  im- 
petration,  thanksgiving,  and  satisfaction  for  sin. 

The  Old  Testament  Scriptures  are  filled  with  accounts 
of  sacrifices  offered  for  these  various  intentions.  We 
find  Cain  and  Abel  offering  sacrifice  to  God  in  this 
early  stage  of  the  world's  history.  The  patriarch  Noe, 
when  leaving  the  ark,  offered  sacrifice  in  thanksgiving 
for  his  deliverance  from  the  flood.  *  Judas  Machabeus 
offered  sacrifice  for  the  souls  of  those  slain  in  battle. 
2  Job  offered  burnt  offerings  for  the  sins  of  his  children. 
In  short  the  whole  world,  even  the  heathen,  having 
preserved  some  traditions  of  the  primitive  practice,  sacri- 
ficed to  their  gods.  "You  may  find,"  says  Plutarch, 
"cities  without  walls,  without  literature,  and  without 
the  arts  and  sciences  of  civilized  life;  but  you  will  never 
find  a  city  without  priests  and  altars,  or  which  has  not 
sacrifices  offered  to  the  gods." 

Thus  sacrifice  has  always  been  regarded  by  all  nations 
and  peoples — excepting  Mohammedans  and  protestants, 

1  Mach.  II,  xii,   43. 

2  Job  i,  5. 


The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass         169 

— as  the  highest  act  of  worship  possible  for  man  to 
offer  his  Maker.  3  "It  was  God  who  prescribed  all  the 
rites  and  ceremonies  in  that  solemn  act  of  public  wor- 
ship. God  commanded  that  a  lamb  should  be  sacrificed 
every  morning  and  evening.  On  the  Sabbath  and  on 
festivals,  more  abundant  sacrifices  were  offered.  .  .  . 
Whenever  an  Israelite  committed  a  sin  he  was  bound 
to  confess  and  to  offer  sacrifice.  The  sinner  led  to  the 
priest  the  animal  destined  for  sacrifice.  He  laid  his 
hand  upon  the  head  of  the  victim,  to  acknowledge 
before  God  that  this  innocent  animal  was  to  bear  his 
sins  and  to  die  in  his  place.  The  animal  was  then 
slain  by  the  priest,  and  its  blood  poured  about  the 
altar.  This  kind  of  sacrifice  was  not  only  to  atone  for 
sin,  but  also  to  obtain  favors  from  God,  or  to  thank  him 
for  favors  received.  As  sacrifice  was  instituted  by  God 
in  the  very  beginning  for  the  most  sacred  ends,  it  was 
never  to  cease  so  long  as  human  beings  remained  on 
earth." 

The  Jewish  sacrifices  were  intended  as  a  temporary 
institution  only ;  not  the  real  thing — as '  "it  was  impos- 
sible that  the  blood  of  bulls  and  goats  could  take  away 
sin," — but  they  were  figures  of  the  real  thing,  and  the 
Jewish  sacrifices  of  the  old  law  all  pointed  to  the  one 
great  sacrifice  of  the  new  law,  "the  Lamb  of  God  who 
taketh  away  the  sins  of  the  world."  It  was  intended 
that  the  priests  and  the  sacrifices  of  the  old  law,  should 
disappear  at  the  coming  of  the  priests  and  the  sacrifice 
of  the  new  law,  for  they  were  promises  fulfilled,  figures 
succeeded  by  the  reality ;  as  mists  that  obscure  the  moun- 

3  "Holy  Sacrifice  of   the  Mass,"   Muller,   p.   133. 


170        The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass 

tain  peak,  and  as  shadows  of  the  vale  that  wait  but  to 
vanish  at  the  coming  of  day.  So  at  the  time  that  our 
divine  Saviour  came  upon  earth,  and  offered  himself  a 
bloody  sacrifice  upon  the  cross,  the  Jewish  sacrifices 
were  abolished  and  their  priesthood  disappeared  from 
earth,  because  it  was  no  longer  necessary  or  pleasing  to 
God  that  they  should  be  continued.  See  Malachias  I, 
v.  10-11. 

Our  Lord  came  not  to  destroy  the  law  of  sacrifice 
which  he  had  instituted,  and  which  was  the  highest  act 
of  worship  known  to  the  world;  but  rather  to  fulfill  it 
by  substituting  the  real  victim,  even  himself,  for  the 
former  figures.  It  had  been  made  known  by  the 
prophets  that  God,  wearied  by  the  sins  of  his  chosen 
people,  would  turn  to  the  Gentiles.  4  "And  I  will  have 
mercy  upon  her  that  was  without  mercy ;  and  I  will 
say  to  that  which  was  not  my  people,  Thou  art  my 
people:  and  they  shall  say,  Thou  art  my  God." 

That  the  Jewish  priesthood  would  one  day  be  super- 
seded by  a  priesthood  of  the  Gentiles,  is  foretold  by  the 
prophet  Isaiah.  "I  will  send  of  them  that  shall  be 
saved  to  the  Gentiles.  .  .  .  And  I  will  take 
of  them  to  be  priests  and  Levites,  saith  the  Lord." 
That  there  should  be  a  perpetual  sacrifice  offered  by  the 
priests,  here  mentioned,  we  learn  from  another  prophet. 
5  "For  from  the  rising  of  the  sun  even  to  the  going 
down,  my  name  is  great  among  the  Gentiles ;  and  in 
every  place  there  is  sacrifice,  and  there  is  offered  to  my 
name  a  clean  oblation :  for  my  name  is  great  among  the 
Gentiles  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts." 

4  Hosea  ii,   23-24. 

5  Malachi  i,  2. 


The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass         171 

What  was  this  pure  sacrifice,  this  clean  oblation,  that 
was  to  be  perpetually  offered  in  every  place?  There 
were  from  the  beginning  two  kinds  of  sacrifices  offered, 
and  two  different  orders  of  priests.  The  priesthood  of 
Aaron  had  to  do  exclusively  with  animal  sacrifice,  while 
the  priesthood  of  Melchisedech  offered  bread  and  wine. 
Our  divine  Saviour  was  6  "called  by  God  a  high-priest 
according  to  the  order  of  Melchisedech,"  and  as  we  see 
he  offered  bread  and  wine.  Further  than  that,  he  united 
in  himself  the  two  kinds  of  the  priesthood  before  men- 
tioned by  offering  himself,  being  both  priest  and  victim, 
— under  the  appearances  of  bread  and  wine,  and  on 
the  day  following,  in  a  bloody  manner  as  in  the  priest- 
hood of  Aaron. 

But  as  a  priest  according  to  the  order  of  Melchisedech, 
he  was  a  priest  forever,  and  the  sacrifice  of  the  clean 
oblation  was  to  be  offered  perpetually  in  all  places 
throughout  the  world;  therefore  we  find  our  blessed 
Lord  saying,  on  the  night  in  which  he  was  betrayed,  "do 
this  for  a  commemoration  of  me,"  as  if  he  had  said: 
What  you  have  seen  me  do  in  the  consecration  of  the 
bread  and  wine  whereby  they  became  my  flesh  and 
blood,  that  also  do,  and  continually  offer  up  in  an  un- 
bloody manner,  not  a  different  but  the  same  sacrifice 
that  shall  be  offered  once,  in  a  bloody  manner  on  the 
altar  of  the  cross. 

That  the  Apostles,  as  here  instructed,  continued  at 
all  times  to  offer  the  holy  sacrifice  which  they  called  the 
Mass — and  which  was  a  representation  of  Christ's  pa&- 
sion  and  death, — there  is  abundant  evidence  to  show  in 

e  Heb.   v,   10. 


172        The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass 

the  Scriptures,  the  writings  of  the  Fathers,  and  in  the 
liturgies  of  the  first  Christians.  We  read  in  the  7  Acts 
of  the  Apostles  that  as  Saul  and  others  "were  minister- 
ing, (in  the  Greek  sacrificing)  to  the  Lord  and  fasting, 
the  Holy  Spirit  said,"  etc. 

St.  Paul  declares  that  8  "we  have  an  altar,  whereof 
they  have  no  power  to  eat  who  serve  the  tabernacle." 
Now  the  only  possible  use  for  an  altar  is  to  offer  sac- 
rifice upon,  and  the  only  sacrifice  that  could  be  offered 
under  the  new  law,  was  that  of  the  body  and  blood  of 
Christ  according  to  the  order  of  Melchisedeck.  This 
same  apostle  also  says :  9  "For  the  priesthood  being 
translated,  it  is  necessary  that  a  translation  also  be 
made  of  the  law."  That  is  for  a  changed  priesthood, 
a  new  law  of  sacrifice.  The  priesthood  of  Aaron  hav- 
ing been  superseded  by  the  priesthood  of  Melchisedech, 
instead  of  animal  sacrifices  we  have  the  sacrifice  wherein 
bread  and  wine  are  changed  into  the  body  and  blood 
of  Christ. 

St.  Paul  quoting  from  the  Psalms,  calls  our  Lord 
10  "a  priest  forever  according  to  the  order  of  Melchis- 
edech." Why  priest  if  not  because  he  offered  sacrifice, 
and  what  sacrifice  did  he  offer  other  than  himself?  He 
is  a  priest  forever,  because  the  sacrifice  of  the  new 
law  is  perpetual.  His  priesthood  is  of  the  order  of 
Melchisedech,  because  he  offers  up  that  bread  and  wine 
which  the  sacrifice  of  that  priest  prefigured. 

St.  Justin  of  the  second  century  writes :     "  "On  the 

7  Acts  xiii,   2. 

8  Heb.  xiii,   10. 

9  Heb.  vii,   12. 

10  ps.   cix,   4. 

11  Apo.  i,  n.   65,  67. 


The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass        173 

day  called  'Sunday,'  there  is  an  assembly  in  one  place 
of  all  who  live  in  the  cities  or  country,  and  the  Acts 
of  the  Apostles,  or  the  writings  of  the  prophets,  are 
read  as  long  as  circumstances  permit.  Then  when  the 
reader  has  ceased,  the  one  who  presides  delivers  a  dis- 
course, in  which  he  reminds  and  exhorts  to  the  imita- 
tion of  the  good  things.  We  then  all  rise  together  and 
pray.  Our  prayer  being  finished,  we  embrace  one 
another  with  the  kiss  of  peace.  Then  to  him  who  pre- 
sides over  the  brethren  is  presented  bread,  and  wine 
tempered  with  water;  having  received  which,  he  gives 
glory  to  the  Father  of  all  things  in  the  name  of  the 
Son  and  Holy  Ghost,  and  returns  thanks  in  many 
prayers.  These  offices  being  duly  performed,  the  whole 
assembly,  in  acclamation,  answers  Amen. 

"Then  the  ministers  whom  we  call  deacons,  distribute 
to  each  one  present  a  portion  of  the  blessed  bread  and 
wine.  Some  is  also  taken  to  the  absent.  This  food 
we  call  Eucharist,  of  which  they  alone  are  allowed  to 
partake  who  believe  in  the  doctrines  taught  by  us  and 
have  been  regenerated  by  water  for  the  remission  of  sin, 
and  who  live  as  Christ  ordained.  Nor  do  we  take 
these  gifts  as  common  bread  and  common  drink,  but  as 
Jesus  Christ,  made  man  by  the  word  of  God,  took  flesh 
and  blood  for  our  salvation  in  the  same  manner  we 
have  been  taught  that  the  food  which  has  been  blessed 
by  the  prayer  of  the  words  which  He  spoke,  is  changed 
into  the  flesh  and  blood  of  that  incarnate  Jesus,  and 
it  is  thus  that  we  are  nourished  by  his  flesh  and  blood. 

"The  Apostles  in  the  commentaries  written  by  them, 
which  are  called  Gospels,  have  declared  that  Jesus  so 


174        The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass 

commanded  when,  taking  bread,  having  given  thanks 
he  said:  'Do  this  in  commemoration  of  me;  This  is 
my  body/  In  like  manner  taking  the  cup,  and  giving 
thanks,  he  said;  'This  is  my  blood;'  and  that  he  distrib- 
uted both  to  them  only." 

St.  Cyprian  in  the  third  century,  calls  the  Mass  "an 
everlasting  sacrifice."  St.  Augustine  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury, speaks  of  the  Mass  as  12  "a  true  and  august  sac- 
rifice," and  that  it  has  supplanted  all  former  sacrifices. 
13  "Old  things,"  he  continues,  "have  passed  away,  and 
new  things  have  been  made  in  Christ,  in  such  a  way 
that  altar  has  yielded  to  altar,  bread  to  bread,  lamb  to 
lamb,  blood  to  blood."  St.  John  Chrysostom  in  the  fifth 
century  says :  14  "Jesus  Christ  has  ordained  a  sacred 
rite  and  changed  the  sacrifice,  and  instead  of  the  slaugh- 
ter of  animals,  has  commanded  himself  to  be  offered  up." 

The  Catholic  Church  has  defined  this  truth  in  her 
Councils.  Thus  the  Fathers  of  the  Council  of  Trent 
in  the  twenty-second  session  spoke  as  follows:  "For 
as  much  as,  under  the  former  Testament  according  to 
the  testimony  of  the  Apostle  Paul,  there  was  no  perfec- 
tion because  of  the  weakness  of  the  Levitical  Priest- 
hood, there  was  need,  God,  the  Father  of  mercies  so 
ordaining,  that  another  Priest  should  rise,  according  to 
the  order  of  Melchisedeck,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  who 
might  consummate,  and  lead  to  what  is  perfect,  as  many 
as  were  to  be  sanctified.  .  .  .  He  offered  up  to  God 
the  Father  his  own  body  and  blood  under  the  species 
of  bread  and  wine:  and  under  the  symbols  of  those 

12  De  Civit.   Dei,  xx. 

is  Ep.   xxxvi,   ad   Casulanum. 

14  J.  X.  Horn.   24,   in  I  Cor. 


The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass         175 

same  things,  he  delivered  (his  own  body  and  blood)  to 
be  received  by  his  Apostles,  whom  he  then  constituted 
priests  of  the  New  Testament :  and  by  those  words :  'Do 
this  in  commemoration  of  me,'  he  commanded  them  and 
their  successors  in  the  priesthood  to  offer  (them)  even 
as  the  Catholic  Church  has  always  understood  and 
taught.  And  this  is  indeed  that  clean  oblation,  which 
was  prefigured  by  various  types  of  sacrifices  during  the 
period  of  nature,  and  of  the  law ;  in  as  much  as  it  com- 
prises all  the  good  things  signified  by  those  sacrifices, 
as  being  the  consummation  and  perfection  of  them  all." 

These  quotations — which  could  be  multiplied  at  will — 
show  how  the  Jewish  sacrifices  were  succeeded  by  the 
sacrifice  of  the  new  law,  of  the  Lamb  of  God  offered 
once  only  on  the  altar  of  the  cross,  after  the  manner 
of  the  priesthood  of  Aaron,  for  the  salvation  of  the 
world,  and  afterward  is  offered  daily,  a  clean  oblation 
upon  air  Christian  altars  after  the  manner  of  the  priest- 
hood of  Melchisedeck,  to  keep  in  a  most  realistic  man- 
ner the  mind  of  the  sinner  fixed  upon  the  great  sacrifice 
of  the  cross,  from  which,  in  the  water  and  the  blood, 
flowed  the  world's  salvation ;  in  this  manner  keeping 
his  sufferings  and  death  as  in  a  panoramic  view  before 
our  eyes ;  and  bringing  himself  to  us,  and  us  to  him  in 
the  closest  and  most  heavenly  of  unions. 

In  the  sacrifice  of  the  new  law,  the  heavenly  Victim 
is  offered  up  in  acknowledgment  of  our  entire  sub- 
jection and  dependence  upon  him;  in  impetration  for 
grace  and  all  desired  blessings ;  in  atonement  for  sin 
and  in  thanksgiving  for  favors  received;  which  are  the 
four  great  intentions  for  which  sacrifice  was  instituted 


176        The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass 

in  the  beginning  of  the  world.  In  this  way  is  the  new 
law  seen  to  be  the  fulfillment  of  the  old,  and  not  its 
abrogation.  15  "We  deem,"  says  Father  Mtiller,  "this 
sacrifice  so  fully  sufficient  and  so  perfect  that,  whatever 
is  afterwards  added,  has  been  instituted  to  celebrate 
and  to  apply  its  virtue." 

If  the  sacrifice  of  the  cross  is  all  sufficient — say  our 
friends — what  need  of  the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass?  God 
knowing  so  well  our  proneness  to  forget  his  works  of 
mercy  toward  us,  must  in  some  way  constantly  keep 
before  us  a  reminder  of  the  sufferings  and  death  of 
his  Son.  As  by  the  symbolical  sacrifices  of  the  old  law, 
he  kept  before  the  sinner  his  need  of  the  great  expiatory 
Victim  of  the  future,  so  now  must  the  sinner  be  kept 
in  mind  that  this  Victim  has  really  come,  suffered  and 
died  for  us,  and  that  this  greatest  of  all  truths  might 
not  in  all  the  ages  to  come  lose  its  force  and  directness 
or  be  shrouded  in  mist  as  past  history — God  willed  that 
this  commemoration  be  perpetually  made. 

The  merits  of  Christ's  sacrifice  on  the  cross  are  of 
incalculable  value;  a  mine  of  inexhaustible  riches,  suf- 
ficient for  every  human  soul;  but,  as  a  reservoir  of 
water  sufficient  for  a  city's  need,  in  order  to  be  of  the 
greatest  benefit  to  all  must  be  carried  in  pipes  to  the 
house  of  each  consumer,  so  must  the  all  sufficient  merits 
of  the  Redeemer's  sacrifice  be  applied  to  each  individual 
soul.  On  the  cross  the  sacrifice  is  in  general  and  for 
all  alike,  and  in  that  as  it  is  historic,  and  separated  from 
us  by  ages  seems  at  a  distance;  but  in  the  sacrifice  of 

15  "The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass,"  p.   165. 


The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass         177 

the  Mass,  the  Victim  is  near  to  us,  and  each  one  pres- 
ent can  truly  say,  he  is  our  very  own. 

16  "But  of  all  proofs,"  says  Cardinal  Gibbons,  "in 
favor  of  the  apostolic  origin  of  the  sacrifice  of  the 
Mass,  the  most  striking  and  the  most  convincing  is 
found  in  the  liturgies  of  the  Church.  The  liturgy  is  a 
collection  of  the  authorized  prayers  of  divine  worship. 
These  prayers  are  fixed  and  immovable.  Among  oth- 
ers, we  have  the  Liturgy  of  Jerusalem,  ascribed  to  the 
Apostle  St.  James ;  the  Liturgy  of  Alexandria,  attrib- 
uted to  St.  Mark  the  Evangelist,  and  the  Liturgy  of 
Rome  referred  to  St.  Peter.  There  are  various  others 
accredited  to  the  Apostles  or  their  immediate  successors. 
It  is  a  remarkable  fact,  that  all  these  liturgies,  though 
compiled  by  different  persons,  at  different  times  and  in 
various  places  and  in  divers  languages,  contain,  with- 
out exception,  in  clear  and  precise  language,  the  pray- 
ers to  be  said  at  the  celebration  of  Mass ;  prayers  in 
substance  the  same  as  those  found  in  our  prayer-books 
at  the  Canon  of  the  Mass. 

"We  cannot  account  for  this  wonderful  uniformity, 
except  by  supposing  that  the  doctrine  respecting  the 
Mass  was  received  by  the  Apostles  from  the  common 
fountain  of  Christianity — Jesus  Christ  himself." 

The  Roman  Liturgy  attributed  to  St.  Peter,  in  the 
excerpts  here  given  is  almost  identical,  word  for  word, 
with  the  prayers  used  in  the  Church  to-day;  and  they 
are  as  follows :  "Wherefore  O  Lord,  we  beseech  Thee 
graciously  to  accept  this  oblation  of  our  bounden  serv- 
ice, .  .  .  which  oblation  do  thou,  O  God,  we  be- 

16  "Faith  of  Our  Fathers,"   Gibbons,   p.   358. 


178        The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass 

seech  thee,  vouchsafe  to  make  in  all  respects,  blessed, 
approved,  ratified,  reasonable,  and  acceptable,  that  it 
may  be  made  unto  us  the  body  and  blood  of  thy  most 
beloved  Son  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

After  the  consecration :  "Wherefore,  O  Lord,  we  thy 
servants  .  .  .  offer  unto  thy  glorious  majesty  of 
thy  gifts  and  presents,  a  pure  host,  a  holy  host,  an  im- 
maculate host,  the  holy  bread  of  eternal  life,  and  the 
chalice  of  everlasting  salvation.  Upon  which  vouchsafe 
to  look  with  a  propitious  and  serene  countenance,  and 
to  accept  them  as  thou  didst  vouchsafe  to  accept  the 
gifts  of  thy  just  servant  Abel,  and  the  sacrifice  of  our 
patriarch  Abraham,  and  that  which  thy  high  priest  Mel- 
chisedeck  offered  to  thee,  a  holy  sacrifice  an  immacu- 
late host.  .  .  .  May  this  commixture  and  consecra- 
tion of  the  body  and  blood  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  be 
to  us  that  receive,  unto  eternal  life." 

Bowing  with  great  reverence  before  the  Blessed  Sac- 
rament he  says:  "Lamb  of  God  who  takest  away  the 
sins  of  the  world,  have  mercy  on  us.  ...  Let  not 
the  participation  of  thy  body,  O  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
which  I,  though  unworthy,  presume  to  receive,  be  to 
my  judgment  and  condemnation,  but  through  thy  mercy, 
may  it  be  available  unto  me  for  the  safeguard  and  cure 
of  mind  and  body." 

At  the  communion  the  celebrant  says  thrice,  "Lord,  I 
am  not  worthy  that  thou  shouldst  enter  under  my  roof, 
but  speak  the  word  only,  and  my  soul  shall  be  healed." 
In  the  giving  as  in  the  receiving  of  the  Blessed  Sacra- 
ment, the  priest  declares  it  to  be  "the  body  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ." 


The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass         179 

So  it  is,  that  in  the  same  words  used  by  the  Apostles 
themselves,  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass — the  clean 
oblation — has  always  been  and  is  at  this  day  through- 
out the  civilized  world  daily  offered  up  from  the  rising 
of  the  sun  unto  the  going  down  of  the  same,  and  the 
prophecy  of  God  by  Malachi  is  fulfilled  in  the  Catholic 
Church  alone. 

In  the  English  Inquisition  and  in  time  of  persecution 
in  Ireland,  Germany,  France  and  other  countries,  so 
firmly  was  the  faith  in  the  holy  sacrifice  of  the  Mass 
held  and  practiced,  and  so  completely  dominated  by  it 
were  the  hearts  and  minds  of  the  people,  that  the  only 
expedient  that  could  tear  them  from  it,  was  the  whole- 
sale destruction  aided  by  the  despotic  arm  of  the  law — 
of  Catholic  Altars. 

In  concluding  this  chapter,  let  us  briefly  contrast  the 
radical  difference  between  the  interior  decoration  and 
general  appearance  of  a  temple  or  house  of  God  where 
the  sacrifice  of  the  Mass  is  unknown,  and  the  one  where 
sacrifice  is  the  highest  act  of  worship  practiced.  Should 
a  catholic  by  any  chance  enter  a  protestant  church,  he 
would  quite  likely  be  standing  opposite  a  large  organ, 
easily  the  most  conspicuous  object  present.  In  front  of 
this  great  instrument,  the  next  objects  claiming  atten- 
tion are  a  luxurious  looking  sofa,  a  desk  or  stand  of 
sufficient  size  to  hold  a  large  "Open  Bible,"  and  a  glass 
for  water.  Aisles  radiate  from,  and  seats  converge  to, 
this  center  of  attraction,  the  arena,  so  to  speak,  where 
weekly  occur  those  friendly  contests  between  the  sister 
arts  of  Oratory  and  Music.  Not  always,  but  often,  all 


180        The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass 

emblems  of  the  Christian  religion  are  absent.  An  an- 
tiquarian odor  characteristic  of  places  seldom  used  per- 
vades the  place,  showing  that  the  church  of  the  "Open 
Bible"  is  also  the  church  of  the  closed  doors.  The 
seats  and  backs  of  the  pews  are  nicely  cushioned,  with 
a  kind  regard  for  the  comfort  of  those  who  may,  in 
view  of  the  attractions  offered  on  the  bill-board  out- 
side, condescend  to  patronize  the  place.  It  is  all  very 
decorously  decent  and  proper,  and  shows  the  purpose 
of  its  use,  which  is  that  of  an  "Auditorium" — a  place 
in  which  to  see  and  hear. 

The  protestant,  who  through  curiosity  may  enter  a 
Catholic  Church,  will  notice  indications  of  constant  use, 
as  though  the  people  had  been  there.  The  floor  shows 
wear  from  the  many  feet  that  daily  pass  up  and  down 
the  aisles.  The  seats,  without  upholstery,  look  bare 
and  plain ;  a  thoroughly  democratic  appearance  quite 
the  opposite  of  its  aristocratic  neighbor  prevails  in  this, 
the  only  Church  in  the  world  where  before  God's  Altar 
the  beggar  is  the  equal  of  the  king!  The  visitor  will 
also  see  some  worshiper  present  and  take  notice  of  the 
reverent  behavior  of  all  who  pass  in  or  out. 

The  very  walls  and  windows,  no  longer  dumb  stone 
and  glass,  have  been  transformed  into  voiceless  preach- 
ers of  Scripture  truth  and  catholic  faith,  by  the  aid  of 
that  hand-maid  of  religion — sacred  art.  Here  will  be 
seen  verified  the  statement  of  St.  Paul,  before  referred 
to,  as  the  High  Altar  is  easily  recognized  as  the  most 
prominent  and  beautiful  object  within;  and — as  we  have 
seen — there  never  has  been  a  time  since  Christianity 


The  Holy  Sacrifice  of  the  Mass        181 

came  to  save  the  world,  when  Christ's  Church,  had  not 
Christ's  Altar  within  it,  where  in  the  tabernacle,  be- 
neath the  sacramental  veils,  the  Lord  of  Glory  sheds  a 
holy  peace  on  all  around. 


CHAPTER  X. 
THE   SACRAMENT  OF   PENANCE. 

1  "The  thief  upon  the  cross  did  not  dare  to  say  'Re- 
member me  in  thy  kingdom/  until  he  had  by  means  of 
confession  laid  down  the  load  of  his  sins.     Seest  thou 
how   great   a   thing   confession   is?     He   confessed   and 
opened  paradise,  he  confessed  and  took  so  much  bold- 
ness of  speech  as  to  ask  for  a  kingdom  for  his  theft. 
.     .     .     If  he  vouchsafe  to  us   his  mercy     ...     let 
us  not  be  ashamed  to  confess  our  sins,  for  great  is  the 
strength  of  confession,  and  abundant  its  power.     For  lo! 
even  this  man  confessed  and  found  paradise  opened." 

Although  our  divine  Master's  delight  was  to  be  with 
the  children  of  men,  to  heal  the  sick,  give  sight  to  the 
blind,  and  loose  the  tongue  of  the  dumb,  yet  he  dis- 
played more  power  in  healing  the  diseases  of  the  soul 
stained  with  sin  than  in  curing  the  ills  of  the  body. 

2  "Thou  shalt  call  his  name  Jesus,"  says  the  angel  to 
St.  Joseph,  "for  he  shall  save  his  people  from  their  sins." 
It    was    sin   which   our    Lord   came   to    save    us    from. 
When  out  of  compassion  he  was  pleased  to  minister  to 
bodily    ills ;   with   the   cure   effected,   we   hear   also   the 
sweet   words   of  pardon,   "Son,   be   of   good   heart,   thy 
sins  are  forgiven  thee."     (Math,  ix,  2.) 

After   the   brief   term   of   his   public   ministry   which 

1  St.   John   Chrysostom. 

2  Matt,    i,    21. 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  183 

closes  with  the  Ascension,  are  we  to  hope  that  some 
provision  has  been  made  whereby  Christ's  forgiveness 
of  the  sinner  may  be  as  fully  assured  to  him  as  when 
in  person  he  pronounced  the  words,  "Thy  sins  are  for- 
given thee" ;  or  must  the  soul  forever  dwell  in  tortur- 
ing fear  and  doubt,  that  knows  no  definite  answer? 
Saint  Paul  says :  3  "God  hath  reconciled  us  to  himself 
through  Christ,  and  hath  given  to  us  the  ministry  of 
reconciliation  .  .  .  For  Christ,  therefore,  we  are 
ambassadors;  God,  as  it  were  exhorting  through  us." 
Which  may  be  stated  thus:  God  sends  Christ,  Christ 
sends  us  as  his  agents  to  reconcile  sinners  in  his  name. 
As  it  is  customary  for  those  whom  necessity  or  pleas- 
ure calls  to  distant  lands  to  appoint  some  one  to  act  for 
them  in  their  absence,  so  it  is  done  here.  *  "As  the 
Father  hath  sent  me,  I  also  send  you.  .  .  .  Whose 
sins  you  shall  forgive,  they  are  forgiven  them;  and 
whose  sins  you  shall  retain,  they  are  retained."  In 
other  words,  I  am  about  to  ascend  up  to  where  I  was 
before,  I  can  no  longer  continue  to  personally  assure 
and  pronounce  each  penitent  sinner's  pardon;  but  so 
long  as  sin  is  in  the  world,  so  long  will  the  sinner  for 
his  encouragement  and  comfort,  need  the  same  assur- 
ance of  my  forgiveness,  that  you  have  received  from 
me  while  present  with  you.  I  therefore  appoint  you 
as  my  agents  to  perform  this  work  for  me;  whoever 
shall  confess  their  sins  to  you,  you  shall  by  the  aid  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  whom  you  now  receive,  be  constituted 
their  judges  in  my  place,  and  your  judgment  on  earth 


311    Cor.    v,    18-20. 
4  John   xx,    21-23. 


184  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

I  will  ratify  in  heaven  on  behalf  of  all  truly  repentant 
sinners. 

5  "In  every  system  of  worship,"  says  the  historian 
Lingard,  "the  means  of  atonement  for  sin  must  form 
an  essential  part.  The  first  professors  of  the  Gospel  be- 
lieved that  the  Messiah,  by  his  voluntary  sufferings  had 
paid  to  the  divine  justice  the  debt  contracted  by  human 
guilt,  but  at  the  same  time  they  taught  that  the  appli- 
cation of  his  merits  to  the  soul  of  man  was  entrusted 
to  the  ministry  of  those  to  whom  he  had  imparted  the 
power  of  binding  and  loosing,  of  forgiving  or  retaining 
sin.  To  exercise  with  discretion  this  twofold  jurisdic- 
tion it  was  necessary  to  learn  the  prevarications  and 
dispositions  of  the  penitent,  and  from  the  earliest  ages 
we  behold  the  faithful  Christian  at  the  feet  of  his  con- 
fessor, acknowledging  in  public  or  private,  the  nature 
and  number  of  his  transgressions.  With  the  doctrine 
of  the  Gospel,  the  practice  of  confession  was  introduced 
among  the  Saxons  by  the  Roman  and  Scottish  mission- 
aries. They  were  taught  to  consider  it  not  merely  as 
a  pious  observance,  which  depended  on  the  devotion 
of  the  individual,  but  as  an  indispensable  obligation, 
from  which  nothing  could  release  the  sinner  but  the 
impossibility  of  th'e  performance.  The  law  by  which 
it  was  enforced  was  construed  to  extend  to  every  class 
of  Christians:  to  bind  the  highest  ecclesiastic  no  less 
than  the  meanest  layman.  The  sinner  who  was  desirous 
to  regain  the  favor  of  his  offended  God,  was  directed 
to  approach  the  feet  of  his  confessor  with  humility  and 
compunction,  and  after  professing  his  belief  in  the  prin- 

5  "Anglo    Saxon    Ch.,"    Lingard,    p.    124. 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  185 

cipal  truths  of  Christianity,  to  unfold  all  the  crimes  with 
which  he  had  contaminated  his  conscience,  by  deed,  by 
word,  or  by  thought.  To  conclude  this  humiliating 
ceremony,  he  declared  his  determination  to  amend  his 
life,  and  adjured  his  confessor  to  bear  testimony  to 
the  sincerity  of  his  repentance  in  the  day  of  judgment." 

The  two  excerpts  that  follow,  are  from  the  homilies 
of  the  Saxon  Church:  "The  Holy  Scripture  frequently 
teaches  us  to  flee  to  the  medicine  of  true  confession  of 
our  sins ;  because  we  cannot  otherwise  be  healed,  ex- 
cept we  confess  with  sorrow  what  we  have  unright- 
eously done  through  negligence.  All  hope  of  forgive- 
ness is  in  confession.  Confession  with  true  repentance 
is  the  angelic  remedy  for  sins."  And  again,  "Truly  no 
man  will  obtain  forgiveness  of  his  sins  from  God,  un- 
less he  confess  to  some  of  God's  ministers  and  do  pen- 
ance according  to  his  judgment." 

All  necessary  information  regarding  Confession  can 
be  found  in  a  small  Catechism.  Those  who  have  an 
intimate  acquaintance  with  the  practical  workings  of 
the  sacrament  in  restraining  mankind  from  wrong  doing, 
are  loud  in  their  praises  of  it,  while  those  who  have 
never  tried  it  and  as  a  consequence  are  not  qualified 
to  judge,  cannot  say  enough  in  disparagement  of  it. 
Our  friend  Mr.  Barnes,  in  the  echoing  of  protestant 
sentiment  against  the  practice,  exceeds  the  limits  of 
good  taste  in  the  plainness  of  his  language.  Mr.  Barnes 
says :  6  "The  practice  of  auricular  confession  is  evil, 
and  only  evil  and  that  continually.  Nothing  gives  so 
much  power  to  a  priesthood  as  the  supposition  that  they 

6  Com.  Epist.   St.   James  v,   16. 
9 


1 86  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

have  the  power  of  absolution.  .  .  .  The  thought 
which  but  for  the  necessity  of  confession  would  have 
vanished  at  once;  the  image  which  would  have  departed 
as  soon  as  it  came  before  the  mind,  but  for  the  neces- 
sity of  retaining  it  to  make  confession — these  are  the 
things  over  which  a  man  would  seek  to  have  control, 
and  to  which  he  would  desire  to  have  access,  if  he 
wished  to  accomplish  villainy.  .  .  .  Nothing  proba- 
bly under  the  name  of  religion  has  ever  done  more  to 
corrupt  the  morals  of  a  community  than  the  practice 
of  auricular  confession." 

When  this  eminently  pious  and  learned  man  had 
completed  this  arraignment  of  those  Christians  who, 
like  himself,  minister  in  things  divine,  he  doubtless  sur- 
veyed his  work  with  honest  pride.  Here  is  seen  in 
this  explanation  of  Holy  Scripture,  the  partisan  image 
which  protestantism  has  conjured  up  to  frighten  its 
adherents. 

An  architect  must  not  only  study  the  theory  of  build- 
ing which  he  finds  in  the  text-books  of  his  profession, 
but  if  he  would  avoid  mistakes  that  would  expose  him 
to  the  criticism  of  ordinary  workmen,  he  must,  as  well, 
be  familiar  with  the  practical  details  of  construction. 
The  protesant  doctor,  seemingly  unaware  of  this  com- 
monplace wisdom,  has  evolved  a  theory  upon  a  subject 
regarding  the  practical  workings  of  which  he  was  a 
stranger,  and  it  is  not  surprising  that,  under  the  cir- 
cumstances, he  should  have  blundered. 

Doctor  Barnes  is  in  error  regarding  the  necessity  of 
keeping  undesirable  thoughts  before  the  mind  for  fear 
they  may  be  lost,  mislaid  or  forgotten  before  the  time 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  187 

arrives  for  confession;  for,  were  any  of  these  acci- 
dents to  happen,  the  penitent  not  being  able  to  recall 
the  thoughts  mentioned,  could  not,  of  course,  confess 
them,  and,  as  no  rule  of  the  Church  requires  impossi- 
bilities, he  would  in  that  fact  find  his  exoneration.  It 
is  thus  that  the  best  of  theories  often  fail  when  a 
practical  demonstration  is  sought  for. 

No  catholic  is  required  to  disclose  all  that  passes 
through  his  mind  to  his  confessor.  In  the  number — 
however  vast  or  varied — of  bad  thoughts  that  some- 
times float  through  the  minds  of  us  poor  mortals,  un- 
sought and  unwelcome;  thoughts  that  come  and  go  as 
the  winds  of  autumn  blow  dried  leaves  and  dust  and 
rubbish  here  and  there,  which  find  no  lodgment  and  no 
resting  place ;  undesired  visitants,  sad  reminders  of  our 
nature  since  the  fall  from  innocence  in  paradise;  not 
one  of  these  pernicious  thoughts  are  of  necessity  to  be 
mentioned  in  confession.  But  on  the  contrary,  those 
evil  thoughts  that  come  to  stay  because  they  are  wel- 
come visitors,  and  are  retained  in  the  mind  for  the 
pleasure  they  give;  these  must  be  sincerely  repented  of, 
and  confessed  with  great  humility  and  a  firm  resolution 
to  offend  no  more. 

Sinful  thoughts  are  the  parents  of  sinful  actions ;  the 
confession  of  sinful  thoughts  is  the  axe  laid  at  the  root 
of  the  tree.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  a  more  effect- 
ive cure  could  be  devised  for  sins  of  this  nature,  than 
the  practice  of  Confession.  The  overwhelming  sense 
of  shame  that  must  attend  the  recital  of  such  infrac- 
tions of  the  moral  code  would  naturally  serve  to  deter 
one  from  a  repetition  of  so  serious  an  offence.  It  is 


i88  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

an  old  saying,  that  "those  who  frequent  the  confes- 
sional, flee  from  vice." 

Protestants  often  make  the  objection  that  confession 
of  sin  leads  to  its  more  frequent  committal,  but  why 
in  reason  this  should  be  the  case,  it  is  difficult  to  con- 
jecture ;  but  if  true,  those  converts  to  the  Christian 
faith  who  came  to  the  apostles  7  "confessing  and  de- 
claring their  deeds,"  only  made  a  bad  matter  worse,  in 
taking  a  step  that  would  only  lead  to  greater  prevarica- 
tions in  the  end.  Ananias  and  Sapphira  also  were  right 
in  not  making  a  truthful  confession  to  the  Apostle 
Peter,  for  fear  of  its  bad  effect  upon  their  morals  later 
on! 

8  "Confess  therefore  your  sins  one  to  another,"  is  un- 
derstood by  protestants  as  inculcating  mutual  confession, 
the  reciprocal  disclosure  of  such  small  faults  as  tend 
to  no  particular  disgrace,  and  which  are  perhaps  already 
known.  Doctor  Barnes  in  explaining  this  Scripture 
says:  "As  mutual  confession  is  here  enjoined,  a  priest 
would  be  as  much  bound  to  confess  to  the  people  as  the 
people  to  the  priest.  No  mention  is  made  of  a  priest  at 
all  or  even  of  a  minister  of  religion  as  the  one  to  whom 
the  confession  is  to  be  made." 

"Confess  therefore  your  sin  one  to  another."  (St. 
James  v,  16.)  The  expression  one  to  another  cannot 
mean  that  if  lay  persons  confess  their  sins  to  other  lay 
persons,  they  have  the  power  of  conferring  sacramental 
absolution,  that  is  the  forgiveness  of  sin,  for  this  power 
Christ  gave  only  to  his  Apostles  to  be  transmitted  to 
their  successors. 

7  Acts    xix,    18. 

8  Epist.    St.    James  v,    16. 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  189 

One  of  the  rules  that  should  guide  us  in  the  inter- 
pretation of  passages  of  Scripture  referring  to  the  same 
doctrine,  but  involving  some  obscurity,  is  as  follows: 
The  obscure  passages  are  made  clear  by  the  parallel 
quotations  conveying  the  same  truth  or  fact  in  plainer 
language.  Hence,  if  the  above  text  of  St.  James  is  set 
side  by  side  with  that  of  St.  John's  Gospel,  ch.  xx,  vv. 
22,  23,  all  difficulty  disappears  and  the  fact  remains 
established  that  the  power  of  sacramental  absolution  is 
exclusively  proper  of  the  priesthood  according  to  divine 
institution. 

If,  however,  the  text  of  St.  James  is  taken  as  mean- 
ing a  voluntary  accusation  of  a  penitent  to  a  lay  per- 
son, then  it  would  be  a  simple  act  of  humility,  pleasing, 
no  doubt,  in  God's  sight  but  utterly  devoid  of  all  sacra- 
mental character,  though  it  may  greatly  contribute  to 
excite  the  sinner  to  true  contrition,  and  thus  dispose 
him  to  a  valid  absolution  from  the  priest. 

Let  us  examine  this  Scriptural  text,  commencing  at 
the  fourteenth  verse,  when  we  may  the  better  be  able  to 
determine  if  Mr.  Barnes  has  been  quite  fair.  The  three 
verses,  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  sixteenth  inclusive, 
evidently  refer  to  one  occasion.  In  the  fifteenth  verse, 
the  object  of  the  confession  of  sin  is  shown  to  be  that 
of  obtaining  forgiveness  for  the  same,  from  the  priests 
of  the  Church,  whom  we  find — in  verse  fourteenth — 
had  already  been  called  in. 

The  impartial  reader  will  be  likely  to  conclude  that 
when  the  sick  man,  realizing  that  he  was  in  great  dan- 
ger, called  in  the  priests  of  the  Church,  it  was  not  that 
the  priests  should  confess  their  sins  to  him,  but  that 


190  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

he,  feeling  the  coming  on  of  that  long  night,  in  which 
no  man  can  see  to  work,  was  anxious  only  about  his 
own  sins,  and  desired  to  improve  the  remaining  hours 
of  his  day  in  making  a  good  confession  of  them  to 
God's  ministers  to  whom  it  was  declared  by  the  Saviour 
of  men :  9  "Whose  sins  you  shall  forgive,  they  are  for- 
given them ;  and  whose  sins  you  shall  retain,  they  are 
retained." 

The  protestant  Doctor  seeks  to  show  that  confession 
is  properly  made  for  trespasses  against  our  neighbor, 
to  our  neighbor.  "None  but  he  who  has  been  wronged 
can  pardon  an  offence."  Therefore  the  priest  has 
nothing  to  do  in  the  matter.  It  was  a  sad  mistake  that 
Dr.  Barnes  did  not  go  to  confession,  before  he  wrote 
so  much  about  confession.  If  we  can  imagine  such  a 
circumstance  as  occurring,  it  must  have  been  something 
like  this :  "Reverend  Father,  I  accuse  myself  of  hav- 
ing offended  against  Charity,  by  stating  in  my  books, 
many  things  derogatory  to  the  Catholic  Church,  her 
priests  and  people,  and  regarding  the  truth  of  which  I 
was  not  sufficiently  informed  to  pass  judgment  upon." 
We  may  also  imagine  the  Father  Confessor  as  saying 
in  reply:  "My  son,  in  doing  so  irreparable  an  injury 
to  thousands  of  your  fellow  Christians  by  the  unfounded 
assertion  that  by  a  sacrament  of  the  Church,  her  priests 
and  people  are  alike  demoralized,  you  have  also  con- 
mitted  a  mortal  sin  against  God.  You  have  broken  that 
commandment  which  says :  10  'Thou  shalt  not  bear  false 
witness  against  thy  neighbor.'  Go  now  and  ask  forgive- 
ness as  far  as  possible,  of  those  whom  you  have  in- 

s  St.    John's    Gospel    xx.    23. 
10  Exodus  xx,   16. 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  191 

jured,  and  in  making  your  retraction  as  broadcast  as 
your  accusation,  do  all  that  is  possible  to  restore  the 
reputation  of  those  whom  you  have  defamed.  Then 
come  again  and  if  we  think  your  repentance  is  sincere, 
we  will  give  you  absolution  and  a  penance  in  proportion 
to  the  gravity  of  your  offense." 

11  "The  priest,"  as  Doctor  Milner  says,  "being  vested 
by  Christ  with  a  judicial  power  to  bind  or  to  loose,  to 
forgive  or  to  retain  sins,  cannot  exercise  that  power 
without  taking  cognizance  of  the  cause  on  which  he 
is  to  pronounce,  and  without  judging  in  particular  of 
the  dispositions  of  the  sinner  especially  as  to  his  sorrow 
for  his  sins,  and  resolution  to  refrain  from  them  in 
future:  now  this  knowledge  can  only  be  obtained  from 
the  penitent's  own  confession.  From  this  it  may  be 
gathered  whether  his  offenses  are  those  of  frailty  or 
malice,  whether  they  are  accidental  or  habitual ;  in  which 
latter  case  they  are  ordinarily  to  be  retained,  till  his 
amendment  gives  proof  of  his  real  repentance. 

"Confession  is  also  necessary  to  enable  the  minister 
of  the  sacrament  to  decide  whether  a  public  reparation 
for  the  crimes  committed  be  or  be  not  requisite;  and 
whether  there  is  or  is  not  restitution  to  be  made  to  the 
neighbor  who  has  been  injured  in  person,  property,  or 
reputation.  Accordingly,  it  is  well  known  that  such 
restitutions  are  frequently  made  by  those  who  make  use 
of  confession,  and  very  seldom  by  those  who  do  not 
use  it." 

In  the  confession  of  sin,  the  object  sought  to  be 
attained  is  God's  forgiveness :  mutual  confession  such  as 

11  "End    of    Controversy,"    p.    272. 


192  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

Doctor  Barnes  supposes,  failing  in  this  object  would  be 
useless,  in  fact  worse  than  useless ;  for  it  is  well  known 
that  where  sins,  especially  of  a  grave  nature,  are  made 
public,  as  in  the  daily  press,  where  each  disgraceful  de- 
tail is  brought  to  light,  such  scandalous  publicity  but 
serves  to  incite  the  degenerate — who  from  failure  to 
become  famous,  are  for  notoriety  sake  willing  to  be- 
come infamous. 

The  protestant  Doctor  triumphantly  exclaims :  "Who 
can  forgive  sins  but  God?"  True;  but  has  not  God 
promised  to  ratify  the  decisions  of  his  ministers,  in  the 
words  "whose  sins  you  forgive  they  are  forgiven"? 

It  is  apparent  from  the  declaration  of  St.  Peter,  in 
the  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  that  12  sins  committed  before 
baptism  are  remitted  in  that  sacrament.  Now,  if  through 
the  sacrament  of  baptism  administered  by  a  priest,  comes 
remission  of  sins,  why  not  the  remission  of  sins  com- 
mitted after  baptism  by  the  absolution  of  the  priest? 
The  latter  case  presents  no  greater  difficulties  to  the 
understanding  than  the  former,  the  forgiveness  of  sin 
being  obtained  in  both  cases  by  the  acts  of  God's  minis- 
ters who  were  commissioned  and  sent  into  the  world 
for  the  purpose  of  reconciling  sinners  to  God. 

Here  it  is  well  to  remark  incidentally  that  our  sep- 
arated friends,  the  protestant  ministers,  those  at  least 
who  still  believe  in  the  efficacy  of  baptism,  when  ad- 
ministering that  rite  to  adult  converts,  who  are  likely  to 
be  guilty  of  some  grievous  sin,  actually  blot  out  those 
sins  along  with  the  original  stain  and  thus  exercise  that 
very  power  which  they  deny  to  the  catholic  priests. 

12  Acts    ii,    38. 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  193 

In  the  words  of  St.  John :  13  "If  we  confess  our  sins, 
he  (God)  is  faithful  and  just  to  forgive  us  our  sins 
and  to  cleanse  us  from  all  iniquity."  Is  it  not  an  in- 
dubitable fact  that  14  "many  that  believed  came  and 
confessed" — to  the  apostles — "and  showed  their  deeds 
and  burned  their  bad  books"?  Is  it  not  a  fact 
then,  that  like  baptism  and  the  other  sacraments  of  the 
Church,  auricular  confession  was  established  by  the 
apostles,  and  that  it  has  always  been  practiced  in  the 
Church  which  our  Lord  founded  and  promised  to  abide 
with  until  the  consummation  of  all  things? 

If  confession,  with  its  attendant  self  examinations 
and  sense  of  humiliation  and  shame — when  anything  of 
a  grievous  nature  is  to  be  confessed — was  not  obliga- 
tory from  the  beginning,  does  it  seem  reasonable  that 
this  burdensome  yoke  could  afterward  have  been  im- 
posed without  remonstrance  upon  the  Church  through- 
out the  world? 

Search  the  pages  of  ecclesiastical  history  up  to  the 
apostolic  age,  and  ascertain  if  not  at  the  beginning 
when  it  was  that  the  whole  world  first  became  enamored 
with  the  idea  of  confessing  to  a  priest.  It  was  not  at 
the  reformation  period,  for  we  find  Henry  VIII,  writ- 
ing in  defense  of  it,  not  as  an  innovation,  but  as  having 
been  long  established:  the  Council  of  Trent  in  the  same 
century  calls  it  also  a  venerable  institution. 

The  Fourth  Council  of  Lateran,  in  the  beginning  of 
the  thirteenth  century,  made  a  regulation  that  the  peo- 
ple should  confess  their  sins  at  least  once  a  year.  Our 
protestant  friends  have  thought  to  find  here  the  origin 

is  I   John  i,   9. 

i*  Acts   xix,    18-19. 


194  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

of  confession,  and  have  stated  that  Sacramental  Con- 
fession was  never  required  in  the  Church  of  Rome 
until  the  thirteenth  century.  But  there  is  nothing  in 
the  fact  that  the  Council  named,  fixed  a  time  limit  for 
complying  with  the  obligation,  to  show  that  they  were 
originating  a  doctrine. 

Historian  Lord  has  also  found  the  origin  of  Confes- 
sion ;  it  was  in  the  reign  of  Pope  Innocent  III ;  elected 
A.  D.  1198.  15  "It  was  this  Pope  who  instituted  auricu- 
lar Confession,  and  laid  the  foundation  of  a  more  dread- 
ful despotism  in  the  form  of  inquisitions." 

It  will  be  necessary  for  protestants  to  find  still  an- 
other date,  as  in  the  Synod  of  Liege,  A.  D.  710,  in 
words  almost  identical  with  those  of  the  former  coun- 
cil, the  people  were  required  to  confess  their  sins  at 
the  least  once  a  year  to  an  authorized  priest.  In  Eng- 
land and  Ireland  Auricular  Confession  is  found  in  ex- 
istence as  early  as  the  sixth  century,  but  no  record  of 
its  first  introduction  has  been  discovered. 

This  Sacrament  could  not  have  been  introduced  in 
the  fourth  century.  The  Nestorians  and  Eutychians 
separated  from  the  Catholic  Church  in  the  fourth  cen- 
tury; there  are  numbers  of  these  sects  in  existence  in 
Persia,  Abyssinia,  and  the  western  coast  of  India,  and 
all  these  Christians  practice  Auricular  Confession. 

We  now  come  to  the  first  ages  of  Christianity,  the 
period  when  our  adversaries  unite  in  the  admission  that 
the  Church  of  our  Lord's  founding  was  without  "spot 
or  wrinkle."  In  this  halcyon  age,  before  man  felt  it 
his  right  to  improve  upon  God's  work,  all  believed; 

is  "Beacon    Lights,"    Vol.    ii,    p.    269. 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  195 

later  with  the  loss  of  unity  men  began  to  doubt,  until 
with  the  advance  of  time  the  haze  of  uncertainty  has 
filled  the  air  where  all  before  was  clear,  and  from  out 
the  mist  we  hear  the  sounds  of  acrimonious  disputings 
and  denials  of  the  faith. 

Before  all  this  heat,  and  dust,  and  war  of  words  arise, 
let  us  consult  the  writings  of  the  first  teachers  of  the 
faith  once  delivered,  as  we  rise  a  little  while  before  day 
to  enjoy  the  first  sweet  hours  of  morning,  and  calm  the 
perturbations  of  a  restless  night  in  breezes  of  refreshing 
and  delightful  coolness. 

Tertullian,  who  lived  in  the  age  just  subsequent  to 
that  of  the  apostles,  writes :  16  "If  you  withdraw  from 
Confession,  think  of  hell-fire,  which  Confession  extin- 
guishes." Next  in  order  writes  Origen  who  advises 
the  sinner  17  "to  look  carefully  about  him  in  choosing 
the  one  to  whom  he  is  to  confess  his  sins."  St.  Basil, 
in  the  fourth  century,  says :  18  "It  is  necessary  to  dis- 
close our  sins  to  those  to  whom  the  dispensation  of  the 
divine  mysteries  is  committed."  St.  Jerome,  in  Letter 
122,  written  A.  D.  408,  "insists  that  Confession  and 
penance  must  precede  the  reconciliation  of  the  prodigal, 
which  the  Church  pronounces  in  the  name  of  God." 
Says  St.  Augustine :  19  "The  remission  of  sins  is  the 
loosing.  For  what  would  it  have  profited  Lazarus  that 
he  came  forth  from  the  tomb  unless  it  were  said  to, 
'loose  him  and  let  him  go.'  .  .  .  This  taketh  place 
in  the  heart  of  the  penitent:  when  thou  hearest  a  man 

16  Lib.    de   poenit. 

IT  Horn.    2    in    Ps.    xxxvii. 

is  Rule    229. 

19  Psalm   ci. 


196  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

is  sorry  for  his  sins,  he  hath  already  come  to  life:  when 
thou  hearest  him  by  confession  lay  bare  his  conscience, 
he  is  already  drawn  forth  from  the  tomb,  but  he  is  not 
as  yet  loosed.  When  is  he  loosed  and  by  whom  is  he 
loosed?  'Whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth — Christ 
saith — shall  be  loosed  in  heaven.'  Forgiveness  of  sins 
may  justly  be  granted  by  the  Church ;  but  the  dead  man 
himself  cannot  be  aroused  to  this  except  by  the  Lord 
speaking  within  him.  20  "In  the  year  428,  Augustine 
wrote  to  Bishop  Honoratius,  urging  the  clergy  of  his 
diocese  to  remain  with  their  flocks  during  the  persecu- 
tions which  had  just  broken  out.  21  'If  the  ministers  of 
God  be  not  at  their  posts  at  such  a  time,  how  great 
perdition  overtakes  those  who  depart  this  life  either  not 
regenerated  (in  baptism)  or  not  loosed  from  their  sins.' 
This  surely  reveals  the  true  mind  of  Augustine.  He 
wished  none  to  die  without  baptism.  He  wished  no 
baptized  person  guilty  of  sin  to  die  without  the  priestly 
absolution. 

"This  power  to  absolve  from  sin  is  recognized  by 
all  the  Fathers,  as  an  endowment  of  the  Christian 
priesthood.  It  is  something  to  be  remarked  also  that 
this  authority  to  absolve  was  not  debated  by  the  different 
heretics  of  that  early  day.  The  Montanists  and  the 
Novatians  of  the  third  and  later  centuries  were  fanatical 
in  their  rigor.  They  opposed  granting  absolution  to 
Christians  guilty  of  certain  heinous  sins,  but  they  did 
not  question  the  right  of  absolution  itself.  In  like  man- 
ner the  Donatist  followers  falsely  declared  that  absolu- 


20  San  Francisco   Monitor. 

21  Epist.     228. 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  197 

tion  would  be  invalid  if  the  priest  pronouncing  it  were 
himself  burdened  with  sin.  Each  of  these  heretical 
bodies  questioned  the  application  of  the  absolving  power 
in  certain  circumstances.  Not  one  of  the  three  denied 
that  Christ  delegated  the  power  of  forgiving  sins." 

Did  space  allow,  like  excerpts  from  the  writings  of 
the  Fathers,  of  the  first  five  centuries,  could  be  pro- 
duced in  great  number;  they  settle  the  question  beyond 
a  doubt  for  all  whose  prejudice  is  not  invincible:  but 
for  those  who  read  in  God's  Word :  "Whose  sins  you — 
the  apostles — forgive,  they  are  forgiven  them:  and 
whose  sins  you  shall  retain  they  are  retained."  "Con- 
fess therefore  your  sins  one  to  another."  "And  many 
that  believed  came  and  confessed — to  the  apostles — and 
showed  their  deeds,"  etc.,  and  yet  they  deny  that  the 
necessity  of  Confession  is  taught  in  the  Bible.  For 
such  indeed  no  amount  of  testimony  would  be  deemed 
conclusive. 

In  their  efforts  to  prove  auricular  Confession  an  in- 
vention of  man  having  no  connection  with  the  first  ages 
of  faith,  our  adversaries  dwell  largely  upon  the  fact 
that  Confession  in  the  beginning  was  public,  and  that 
when  public  confession  ceased,  private  confession  took 
its  place.  In  the  work  of  misleading  the  mind  of  the 
inquirer,  nothing  is  more  efficacious  than  the  statement 
of  a  half  truth,  it  wins  its  way  by  its  seeming  respecta- 
bility, and  thus  does  more  damage  to  the  cause  of  truth 
than  an  out-and-out  lie.  Quoting  from  a  protestant 
writer  as  a  case  in  point :  *2  "Soon  after  the  abolition  of 
public  confession  by  an  extremely  natural  transition, 

22  "Ecclesiastical    Records,"    Hart,    p.    322. 


198  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

auricular  or  secret  confession  succeeded  into  its  place." 
What  an  extremely  natural,  easy  and  respectable  way 
of  accounting  for  the  introduction  on  earth  of  this  yoke 
of  the  Gospel.  It  required  no  assistance  from  pope,  or 
prelate,  for  its  institution,  no  date  even  is  necessary  in 
the  chronicling  of  this  important  happening  to  all  man- 
kind; it  floated  in  as  fog  drifts  in  from  the  sea,  "by  an 
extremely  natural  transition" ! 

The  half  truth  here  is,  that  public  confession  was 
practiced  in  the  beginning.  The  whole  truth  is,  that 
both  public  and  private  confession  were  practiced  in 
the  beginning.  Private  confession  preceded  public  con- 
fession, it  was  obligatory  upon  pope,  prelate,  priest,  and 
people  alike.  Public  confession — by  advice  of  the  con- 
fessor— only.  Origen  in  the  third  century  speaks  of 
this  custom :  23  "And  should  he — the  physician — decide 
your  disease  to  be  such  that  it  ought  to  be  declared 
and  cured  publicly  before  the  congregation  of  the 
Church,  that  others  may  be  thereby  edified,  and  you 
more  easily  healed,  this  must  be  done  only  after  much 
deliberation  and  the  prudent  advice  of  such  a  physician." 

Public  confession,  as  made  in  the  hearing  of  a  num- 
ber of  people  (e.  g.,  a  congregation)  differs  from  pri- 
vate or  secret  confession,  which  is  made  to  the  priest 
alone,  and  is  often  called  auricular,  i.  e.  spoken  into  the 
ear  of  the  confessor.  Though  Christ  did  not  forbid  that 
any  one,  in  punishment  of  his  crimes  and  for  his  own 
humiliation,  should  confess  his  sins  publicly,  still  this 
has  not  been  commanded  by  divine  precept  and  it  has 
long  ceased  to  be  practiced.  It  is  therefore  Catholic 

23  2   Horn,   on    Psalm   xxxvii. 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  199 

doctrine,  first,  that  Christ  did  not  prescribe  public  con- 
fession, salutary  as  it  might  be,  nor  did  he  forbid  it. 
Second,  that  secret  confession,  sacramental  in  character, 
has  been  the  practice  of  the  Church  from  the  earliest 
days.  (See  Catholic  Cyclopedia,  Vol.  XI,  p.  625.) 

24  "The  reformers,"  says  the  San  Francisco  Monitor, 
"rejected  five  of  the  sacraments.  Among  those  cast 
aside  was  Penance.  Though  trying  to  retain  Confes- 
sion as  a  balm  for  the  soul,  the  sacramental  nature  of 
the  act  was  denied  in  the  strongest  language.  But  it  is 
not  in  the  words  of  the  original  reformers  that  we  must 
look  for  the  source  of  our  modern  protestant  diatribes 
against  the  practice  of  confession. 

"In  1661  Jean  Daille,  a  Calvinist  theologian,  pub- 
lished in  Geneva  a  work  entitled  De  Sacramentali  seu 
Auriculari  Confessione.  In  this  volume  he  gave  thirty 
more  or  less  specious  reasons  to  show  that  auricular 
confession  as  practiced  by  the  Catholic  Church  was 
something  unknown  to  the  church  of  antiquity.  This 
volume  of  Daille's  has  been  the  foundation  and  ground- 
work of  the  later  protestant  theological  treatment  of 
penance.  It  was  the  basis  even  of  Bingham's  lengthy 
treatise  on  the  matter  in  Book  XVIII  of  his  Christian 
Antiquities,  and  through  this  open  spirit  of  bias,  what 
is  otherwise  an  erudite  work,  is  irreparably  spoiled.  In 
short  the  abuse  of  confession  by  almost  every  protestant 
writer  who  has  touched  on  this  subject  from  the  raving 
pamphleteers  of  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
down  to  their  more  pretentious  American  successor, 

24  San    Francisco    Monitor,    Sept.    24,    1898. 


2OO  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

Henry   C.    Lea,   is   drawn   either   directly   or   indirectly 
from  this  same  source. 

"But  in  the  midst  of  all  this  acrid  excoriation  of 
absolution  and  confession,  what  strange  vagaries  are 
exhibited  in  the  history  of  protestantism.  The  later 
reformers  have  not  words  strong  enough  to  abuse  the 
sacrament  of  Penance.  On  the  contrary,  it  was  not  so 
with  the  originators  of  the  protest.  Luther  and  Melanc- 
thon  urged  that  confession  be  retained.  In  the  cate- 
chisms published  by  Luther,  and  still  authoritative,  we 
find  an  exhortation  to  confession  and  to  belief  in  the 
validity  of  the  priest's  absolution.  The  Confession  of 
Augsburg  says  that  'absolution  is  a  true  sacrament'  and 
to  reject  it  is  to  renew  the  ancient  error  of  the  Nova- 
tions. In  the  Apology  for  the  Augsburg  Confession, 
pages  167-181,  it  is  stated  that  'it  would  be  rash  impiety 
to  abolish  private  confession.  What  would  be  the  mean- 
ing of  the  forgiveness  of  sins  or  the  power  of  the  keys, 
if  we  should  asperse  private  absolution.  .  .  .  The 
same  credit  must  be  given  to  the  absolving  priest  as  to 
a  voice  from  Heaven.' 

'  "Auricular  Confession  is  practiced  among  the  angli- 
can  clergy  and  laity  of  England.  Archbishop  Temple 
defined  what  Confession  is  at  Ashford  Parish  Church. 
The  address  defined  nothing  except  that  'we  are  various- 
ly made,  and  there  is  no  system  that  suits  everybody.' 
The  first  and  perhaps  the  greatest  objection  to  Con- 
fession, the  Archbishop  says,  'is  the  want  of  freedom.' 
Man  is  not  the  better  for  being  so  much  looked  after. 
He  is  made  to  depend  more  on  others  than  on  himself, 

25  San    Francisco   Monitor,    Vol.    xlviii,    No.    6. 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  201 

and  so  there  is  in  consequence  a  decline  of  moral  and 
spiritual  activity. 

"Another  objection  is  the  temptation  to  be  untrue. 
According  to  the  Anglican  theory,  confession  leads  to 
lying  and  so  not  only  becomes  useless  but  actually 
harmful.  'A  lie  once  told  in  the  confessional  weakens 
forever  the  power  of  making  a  good  use  of  such  a 
system.'  This  is  very  plausible.  Of  course  to  tell  a 
lie  in  Confession  is  harmful,  much  more  so  than  to  lie 
under  other  circumstances.  But  is  the  temptation  to 
untruth  greater  in  the  confessional  than  elsewhere? 
There  are  many  occasions  in  every  one's  life  where  a 
lie  might  stave  off  unpleasant  results.  A  man  often- 
times gains  some  immediate  benefit  by  lying,  but  in  the 
end  he  is  bound  to  lose.  In  confession  a  man  gains 
nothing  either  immediately  or  ultimately  by  lying.  And 
what  Doctor  Temple  lays  down  as  the  weak  point  of 
confession  is  the  strongest.  While  it  is  true  that  one 
may  lie  in  the  confessional,  the  knowledge  of  the  spirit- 
ual ruin  that  follows  such  an  act  keeps  people  to  the 
truth. 

"But  Confession,  according  to  Doctor  Temple's  idea, 
is  the  strangest  doctrine  in  the  protestant  creed.  It 
must  be  altogether  voluntary.  No  man  may  be  com- 
pelled to  confess.  He  is  merely  required  to  be  at  peace 
with  his  own  conscience.  This  freedom  is  the  founda- 
tion of  protestantism.  Any  doctrine,  the  acceptance  of 
which  causes  trouble,  is  cast  aside.  Confession  is  dis- 
agreeable, and  because  it  is,  therefore,  it  must  not  be 
insisted  upon.  A  man's  comfort  and  convenience  are 


202  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

the  first  things  to  be  considered.  That  being  attended 
to,  he  believes. 

"We  should  like  to  be  heretic  enough  to  believe  in 
voluntary  confession.  It  would  save  many  people  much 
uneasiness,  but  it  would  take  away  the  greatest  comfort 
that  religion  can  give,  namely,  the  knowledge  that,  when 
we  have  properly  confessed  our  sins  and  received  abso- 
lution, our  souls  are  healed  of  all  the  sores  that  caused 
us  pain  and  trouble.  We  enjoy  a  holy  peace  which  is 
a  foretaste  of  the  peace  that  is  to  be  forever." 

The  Anglican  professor  of  divinity  in  the"  University 
of  Cambridge  had  this  to  say  about  the  work  of  Jean 
Daille,  before  mentioned :  26  "We  must  be  careful  not 
to  let  our  estimate  of  the  Fathers  be  formed  at  second 
hand  from  a  mere  perusal  of  such  authorities  as  Daille. 
Attention  next  after  the  Scriptures  must  be  given  to 
the  primitive  Fathers  .  .  .  with  such  respect  as  is 
due  to  the  only  witnesses  we  have  of  the  state  and 
opinions  of  the  Church  immediately  after  the  apostles' 
times.  .  .  .  The  necessity  of  secret  confession  is 
another  question,  which  Daille  singles  out  as  one  which 
does  not  admit  of  illustration  from  anything  the  Fathers 
say,  so  alien  from  it  are  the  topics  they  handle.  And 
as  I  have  observed  in  similar  cases,  there  certainly  is 
no  treatise  expressly  on  the  subject  by  any  early  Father 
but  there  is  that  which  bears  upon  it.  ...  Daille 
is  not  justified  in  representing  the  writing  of  the  Fathers 
as  inapplicable  to  such  a  question — secret  confession — 
for  however  casually  it  may  present  itself  in  their  writ- 
ings and  whatever  may  be  the  aspect  of  it  they  offer, 

26  "The    Early   Fathers,"    pp.    50-53,    J.    J.    Blunt. 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  203 

the  question  of  secret  confession  is  clearly  one  upon 
which  they  may  be  made  to  speak  in  one  shape  or 
other;  and  I  could  have  doubled  or  trebled  the  length 
of  this  lecture,  had  I  chosen  to  bring  forward  all  the 
materials  they  would  furnish  upon  it." 

The  Anglican  professor  finds  no  separate  treatise,  no 
special  apology  for  Confession  in  the  writings  of  the 
Fathers  of  the  first  centuries !  For  the  sake  of  brevity 
as  few  quotations  as  possible  out  of  many  at  hand  have 
been  used.  But  these  few  seem  sufficient  to  make  clear 
and  plain  the  fact,  that  the  Scriptures  which  mention 
confession,  were  understood  by  the  first  Christians,  pre- 
cisely as  we  understand  them  now.  It  is  surprising, 
not  that  there  should  be  so  little,  but  that  there  should 
be  so  much  to  substantiate  this  doctrine  in  the  writings 
of  the  early  Fathers;  especially  so  as  the  apostolic 
origin  of  confession  had  never  been  denied.  It  is  al- 
ways the  denial  of  a  truth  that  brings  out  the  apology 
for  it.  When  the  Church  was  one  and  undivided,  and 
its  doctrines  generally  believed,  there  was  no  question 
of  vital  importance  to  call  forth  debate,  and  it  therefore 
occasions  no  surprise  that  the  Fathers  should  not  have 
written  largely  in  vindication  of  a  doctrine  the  truth 
of  which  none,  not  even  the  heretics  who  went  out 
from  us  in  the  early  ages,  had  the  hardihood  to  deny. 

27  "The  latest  relic  of  early  Christian  literature  was 
published  to  the  world  in  1883,  'The  Teaching  of  the 
Twelve  Apostles,'  a  work  often  referred  to  in  Christian 
authors  but  unknown  in  text  had  at  last  been  discovered. 
By  the  common  consent  of  scholars  this  work  must 

27  San   Francisco   Monitor,   Vol.  xlviii,   No.   2. 


204  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

have  been  written  before  A.  D.  120,  and  most  probably 
before  St.  John  finished  his  Gospel.  Now  chapter  VII 
to  XV  of  this  work  refer  to  ritual  and  discipline,  Chap- 
ter XIV  directs  that  Christians  come  together  on  the 
Lord's  Day  to  break  (bread)  and  to  give  thanks,  but 
before  communicating  they  should  confess  their  sins  in 
the  church  in  order  that  their  sacrifice  be  pure.  This 
does  not  look  as  if  the  power  of  forgiving  sins  and  the 
necessity  of  confession  were  new  doctrines."  The  same 
writer  in  speaking  of  the  increase  among  protestants 
of  ritualistic  practices,  says :  28  "This  Ritualistic  phase 
of  modern  protestantism  may  seem  ludicrous  in  many 
ways  to  the  catholic  observer,  but  it  has  a  deep  signifi- 
cance. It  means  a  recognition  of  the  rightful  position 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  and  as  a  witness,  is  not  to  be 
despised.  The  Catholic  Church  has  always  taught  that 
Jesus  Christ  entrusted  to  his  priests  the  ministry  of 
reconciliation,  that  the  priest  has  from  Christ  the  power 
of  forgiving  sins,  and  that  this  judicial  pardon  is  granted 
only  after  Confession. 

"When  those  who  are  opposed  to  the  Church  admit 
the  truth  of  this,  and  as  a  large  party  of  a  protestant 
sect,  against  the  decision  of  their  own  authorities,  return 
to  the  catholic  practice  of  confession  and  absolution — 
when  this  happens  as  it  has  happened  in  the  case  of 
Ritualism,  we  may  well  exclaim,  what  further  need 
have  we  of  witnesses?" 

The  consensus  of  opinion  among  those  scholars  and 
students  of  history  whose  broadness  of  mind  and  free- 
dom  from  partisanship  constitutes  them   reputable   wit- 
as  San  Francisco  Monitor. 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  20$ 

nesses,  is,  that  auricular  confession  dates  from  the  days 
of  the  apostles.  Those  on  the  contrary  whose  ideas 
have  taken  shape  within  the  narrow  boundaries  of  a 
sect,  and  who  are  opposed  to  this  conclusion  because 
it  makes  against  them,  are  confronted  with  the  fact, 
that  while  patient  study  has  led  to  the  deciphering  of 
the  Egyptian  hieroglyphics  and  the  identification  of 
the  bones  and  dried  flesh  of  Rameses,  the  Pharaoh  of 
the  Bible;  yet  with  all  their  learning  and  research  they 
are  unable  to  discover  the  origin  of  confession  in  the 
comparatively  recent  date  of  the  Christian  era.  From 
a  sense  of  fear  for  their  own  safety,  they  spare  no 
labor  in  efforts  to  establish  modern  dates  for  ancient 
doctrines,  turning  away  and  refusing  to  dispassionately 
investigate  concerning  the  rise  and  progress  of  con- 
fession, in  the  only  age  where  that  knowledge  can  be 
found. 

Mr.  Lecky  acknowledges  that  in  the  early  days  of 
the  Church,  confession  and  absolution  were  practiced. 
29  "It  is  manifest  that  we  have  in  this  system,  not  poten- 
tially or  in  germ,  but  in  full  developed  activity,  an 
ecclesiastical  despotism." 

Regarding  these  three  last  words  of  Mr.  Lecky's  we 
would  ask:  If  the  hierarchy  of  the  Catholic  Church  has 
fastened  upon  her  people  "an  ecclesiastical  despotism," 
how  is  it  that  the  ecclesiastics  themselves,  from  the 
Pope  down  to  the  lowest,  none  of  them  are  exempt  from 
its  tyranny  ?  Despots  tyrannize  over  others,  not  them- 
selves ;  but  this  "ecclesiastical  despotism"  of  Mr.  Lecky's 
seems  to  be  in  particular  a  despotism  over  ecclesiastics, 

29  "Hist,    of   European   Morals,"    Lecky,    Vol.    ii,    ch.    4. 


206  The  Sacrament  of  Penance 

who,  in  addition  to  the  obligation  of  confessing  their 
own  sins,  are  required  under  circumstances  of  great 
discomfort  to  themselves,  to  remain  many  weary  hours 
each  week  cramped  up  in  little  boxes,  hearing  the  tales 
of  sin  and  woe  of  their  people,  in  the  work  of  the 
ministry  of  reconciliation. 

An  ecclesiastical  despotism?  It  may  seem  so,  to 
such  as  are  strangers  to  its  power  and  consolation,  and 
who  with  the  cold  and  calculating  mind  of  unbelief,  view 
it  from  afar;  but  to  those  of  the  household  of  faith,  'tis 
only  the  sweet  burden  of  the  Master's  yoke,  the  willing 
submission  to  the  Master's  commands :  "Confess  your 
sins  one  to  another,"  and  a  firm  reliance  on  the  judg- 
ments pronounced  in  his  name  by  the  ministry  of  recon- 
ciliation to  whom  he  said:  "Whose  sins  you  forgive 
they  are  forgiven  them :  and  whose  sins  you  retain  they 
are  retained."  They  who  bend  their  stiff  necks  in  sweet 
obedience  to  the  burden  of  these  commands,  carry  away 
more  than  a  song  in  their  hearts  in  the  consciousness  of 
justice  disarmed,  and  sins  forgiven. 

All  catholics,  be  they  popes,  cardinals,  bishops,  priests, 
or  laymen,  must  come  to  the  tribunal  of  Penance,  at 
least  once  a  year.  Those  who  have  much  to  confess, 
feel  the  greatest  measure  of  relief  as  the  burden  is  laid 
down ;  those  who  have  little,  go  away  humble  and 
thankful  that  their  case  was  no  worse. 

The  sacrament  of  Penance  is  one  of  the  most  consol- 
ing doctrines  of  the  Catholic  Church,  we  would  not  for 
the  world  do  without  it,  if  we  could. 

If  protestants  would  read  the  Scriptures,  without  con- 


The  Sacrament  of  Penance  207 

suiting  their  commentators,  they  would  find  in  the  "plain 
language  of  the  Bible,"  the  doctrine  of  auricular  con- 
fession, which  they  now  so  cordially  despise — clearly 
and  fully  revealed. 


CHAPTER  XL 
THE  BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY. 

To  the  average  Christian,  the  place  of  our  Lord's 
birth,  life,  and  death,  the  ground,  the  trees,  the  humblest 
flower  that  gladdens  the  landscape  with  its  presence, 
each  scene  made  blessed  by  the  divine  presence  as 
Jesus  went  about  among  men  in  the  regions  of  Judea, 
will  ever  be  regarded  as  the  most  sacred  on  earth. 
Nothing  is  comparable  in  interest  to  the  scenes  which 
his  eyes  looked  upon.  The  streams,  the  wood,  the  fields, 
the  places  of  his  choice  from  which  the  thoughts  of 
parable  and  lesson  may  have  taken  form  in  those  words 
of  grace  and  wisdom  wherein  it  was  said  that  "never 
man  spake  like  this  man." 

Men  journey  from  the  antipodes,  cross  seas  and 
plains,  that  their  eyes  may  rest  upon  the  sacred  moun- 
tains and  valleys  made  memorable  by  the  life  of  the 
world's  Redeemer,  or  dwell  in  silent  contemplation 
upon  his  wonderful  words  and  works  by  the  sea  of 
Galilee,  or  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan. 

If  Christians  venerate  the  scenes  of  our  Lord's  life 
and  labors  in  Palestine  with  such  enthusiasm,  what 
more  natural  to  expect  than  that  those  nearest,  and 
dearest,  to  him  on  earth,  should  be  the  objects  of  our 
special  love  and  veneration.  How  natural  to  think 
with  devotion  of  the  peerless  sanctity  of  that  Jewish 
maiden,  whom  God  from  all  the  world  selected  to  be 
the  Mother  of  his  Son. 


The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  209 

Far  better  than  love  of  the  mountains,  plains  and 
rivers  of  the  Holy  Land,  is  the  love  and  honor  given 
to  the  Holy  Family,  and  the  consideration  of  that  ready 
obedience  to  God's  will  in  the  words,  "Behold  the  hand- 
maid of  the  Lord:  be  it  done  unto  me  according  to 
thy  word/'  which,  in  the  sequel  saw  its  culmination  in 
the  glories  of  the  Holy  Night  in  Bethlehem  when  Christ 
was  born. 

Eve,  the  mother  of  all  mankind,  was  created  im- 
maculate, but  through  the  freedom  of  her  will  consented 
to  temptation,  and  thus  brought  the  world  under  the 
dominion  of  original  sin.  It  was  promised  that  the 
seed  of  the  woman  should  crush  the  head  of  Eve's 
tempter.  When,  in  the  fullness  of  time,  Mary  con- 
sented to  become,  under  such  extraordinary  circum- 
stances, the  mother  of  our  Lord,  who  was  that  prom- 
ised seed,  she  may  be  said  to  have  become  the  second 
Eve,  by  whose  obedience  the  disobedience  of  the  first 
was  to  be  overcome,  and  the  ruins  of  her  fall  repaired. 

Now  is  it  possible  to  think  that  the  second  Eve,  the 
repairer  under  Christ  of  the  great  evil  done  by  her 
predecessor,  could  have  been  her  inferior?  Protestants 
while  admitting  the  first  Eve — with  whom  God  walked 
and  talked  in  the  garden — to  have  been  immaculate, 
deny  the  like  honor  to  the  second  Eve,  thus  unwittingly 
making  the  Mother  of  God  inferior  to  the  mother  of 
Cain. 

In  Genesis  it  is  written :  l  "I  will  put  enmities 
between  thee" — the  serpent — "and  the  woman,  and  thy 
seed  and  her  seed."  By  the  seed,  the  woman,  and  the 

i  Gen.    iii,    15. 


210  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

serpent,  is  understood  Jesus,  Mary,  and  the  devil.  As 
the  enmity  between  Jesus  and  Satan  will  of  necessity 
be  perpetual,  so  also  must  the  enmity  be  irreconcilable 
between  the  lost  spirit  and  the  woman  Mary.  As  the 
effects  of  original  sin  consist  in  a  darkening  of  the 
understanding,  a  weakening  of  the  will,  together  with 
a  disposition  to  fraternize  with  the  devil  and  admire 
his  works,  it  is  certain  that  the  "woman"  Mary,  who 
possessed  none  of  the  effects  and  dispositions  above 
enumerated,  could  not  by  any  possibility  for  one  moment 
have  been  under  the  curse  of  original  sin. 

The  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  though  not  defined  as  being  of  faith  until  A.  D. 
1854,  had  been  believed  and  taught  from  the  earliest 
times.  St.  Ambrose— A.  D.  397— calls  Mary  2  "a  Virgin 
by  grace  entirely  free  from  every  stain  of  sin."  St. 
Augustine — A.  D.  430 — in  stating  to  the  Pelagians  that 
original  sin  had  descended  upon  all  men,  declared  that 
3  ''he  did  not  intend  to  speak  of  the  Holy  Virgin  Mary, 
of  whom,  when  treating  of  sins  no  question  is  to  be 
moved  for  the  honor  of  the  Lord."  Here  the  great 
Saint's  belief — that  if  the  Blessed  Virgin  were  less  than 
immaculate,  it  would  tend  to  the  dishonor  of  her  divine 
Son — is  in  few  words  clearly  set  forth. 

St.  James  of  Sarug  in  Syria,  in  the  sixth  century, 
says :  *  "If  there  had  been  any  spot  or  defect  in  her 
soul,  he  would  have  looked  out  for  some  other  mother 
with  no  spot  in  her."  St.  Epiphanius,  A.  D.  403,  says: 
"She  was  superior  to  all  beings,  God  alone  excepted; 


2  In  Psalm  cxviii. 

3  Serm.    xxii. 

4  De    Nat.    et   Gratia,    c.    36. 


The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  211 

more  beautiful  by  nature  than  the  Cherubim,  the 
Seraphim,  and  all  the  angelic  host  .  .  .  the  immacu- 
late sheep  who  brought  forth  Christ  the  Lamb.  Saint 
Ephraim  of  Syria,  Cyril  of  Alexandria,  Fulgentius  in 
the  sixth  century,  Anselm  in  the  tenth  century,  and 
others,  give  like  testimony.  Whole  volumes  would  not 
suffice  to  contain  a  small  part  of  what  the  Fathers  of 
the  early  centuries  have  written  in  affirmation  of  their 
belief  in  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin. 

The  Jesuit  Father  Felix,  in  his  introduction  to  Car- 
dinal Lambruschini's  work  on  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion, speaking  of  the  testimony  of  the  Fathers,  says : 
5  "Some  of  these  testimonies  suppose  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  others  express  it  in  equivalent  terms,  others 
formally  define  it,  ...  and  such  is  the  energy  of 
their  words,  that  if  Mary  knew  for  one  instant  the 
stain  of  sin,  we  must  admit  that  all  these  men,  so  good 
by  virtue,  so  illustrious  by  genius,  so  venerable  by 
antiquity,  have  made  a  compact  to  connive  at  error 
through  all  time.  .  .  .  Yet  there  is  a  voice  stronger, 
more  vast  in  its  eloquence  than  the  voice  of  the  doctors ; 
it  is  that  which  speaks  in  prayer,  resounds  in  hymns, 
and  goes  forth  like  an  oracle  from  the  depths  of  the 
sanctuary — the  voice  of  the  Liturgy.  .  .  .  And  let 
us  bear  in  mind  that  it  is  not  the  idea  of  one  man,  of 
one  bishop;  it  is  the  idea  of  a  Church.  .  .  . 

"Thus  be  it  said  in  passing,  great  was  the  oversight 
of  those  who  understood  not  that  by  inaugurating  new 
liturgies,  they  condemned  to  death  the  most  lively  wit- 

5  Page   31st. 


212  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

nesses  of  Catholic  tradition,  and  often  in  one  day 
effaced  the  vestiges  of  fifteen  ages  of  faith.  An  ancient 
liturgy  is  like  a  man  who  is  at  once  the  cotemporary 
of  the  past  and  the  present ;  an  old  man  who  never  dies, 
and  is  there  to  tell  the  living  the  faith  of  generations 
passed  away." 

In  the  Faith  of  Our  Fathers,  Cardinal  Gibbons  says: 
"The  liturgies  of  the  Church  being  the  established 
formularies  of  her  public  worship,  are  among  the  most 
authoritative  documents  that  can  be  adduced  in  favor 
of  any  religious  practice.  In  the  liturgy  ascribed  to 
St.  James,  Mary  is  commemorated  as  6  'our  most  holy, 
immaculate  and  glorious  lady,  mother  of  God  and  ever 
Virgin.'  In  the  Marionite  Ritual  she  is  invoked  as 

7  'our  holy,  praiseworthy,  and  immaculate  lady.'     In  the 
Alexandrian    liturgy   of    St.    Basil   she   is   addressed   as 

8  'most  holy,  most  glorious,  immaculate.'  " 

It  is  seen,  by  these  excerpts  from  ancient  liturgies, 
that  the  Immaculate  Conception  was  no  new  idea  when 
in  1854  Pius  IX  defined  it  as  a  dogma  of  faith. 

When  we  consider  the  evil  effects  of  original  sin  in 
the  soul,  the  weakening  of  the  will,  the  disposition  to 
wander  from  the  narrow  way,  an  undue  affection  for 
temporal  gratifications  and  appetites,  whereby  the  body 
made  in  God's  image  becomes  the  servant  of  sin ;  can 
we  for  one  moment  think  that  the  mother  of  God's  eter- 
nal Son  should  be  infected  with  this  stain,  when  she  was 
selected  for  the  very  purpose  of  assisting  in  the  preser- 
vation of  all  from  its  evil  consequences? 

o  Bibliotheca  Max.     Patrum,   1-2,   p.   3. 

7  De  sac.   ordinal,  p.   313. 

8  Renaudot    Lit.    Orient. 


The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  213 

That  the  Eternal  Word  could  take  flesh  from  a  woman 
under  the  dominion  of  original  sin,  and  who  from  that 
cause  must  be  subject  to  many  if  not  all  the  imperfec- 
tions above  enumerated,  is  a  thought  in  itself  most  blas- 
phemous. 

At  that  fiat  of  Mary's:  "Let  it  be  done  unto  me  ac- 
cording to  thy  word,"  our  divine  Saviour  received  those 
elements  which  joined  to  a  human  soul  and  simulta- 
neously with  the  divine  Word,  became  a  divine  Person- 
ality, and  Mary  was  therefore  as  St.  Elizabeth  in  the 
Gospel  declared  her  to  be,  9  "the  mother  of  my  Lord." 

As  it  is  the  union  of  body  and  soul  that  produces  man, 
so  it  is  the  union  with  the  Eternal  Word  of  a  human 
body  and  soul  that  produced  the  God-Man,  the  divine 
person  Jesus  Christ,  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary,  who, 
being  his  mother,  was  therefore  the  Mother  of  God. 
What  Mary  conceived  by  the  aid  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
then,  was  not  a  man,  but  a  God-Man  possessed  of  a 
divine  and  a  human  nature — which  natures  being  inca- 
pable of  division  and  separation — together  formed  the 
divine  personality  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God. 

Our  adversaries  unwilling  that  the  Blessed  Virgin 
should  enjoy  the  honor  ascribed  to  her  by  St.  Elizabeth 
in  the  Gospel,  have  brought  forward  a  curious  and 
before  unheard  of  proposition,  called  "the  mother  of  a 
nature!"  Mary  was  but  the  mother  of  the  human 
nature  of  Jesus.  Here  then  in  this  unfounded  assertion 
is  the  fissure  through  which  Unitarianism  entered  the 
"reformed  religion";  the  little  fox  that  spoiled  the 
grapes  and  devastated  the  vineyards  of  protestantism. 


9  St.    Luke    i,    43. 


214  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

In  God's  great  plan  of  the  Incarnation  he  was  pleased 
to  give  Mary  a  part  so  prominent,  that  any  attempt  to 
rob  her  of  her  great  honor  as  the  Mother  of  God,  is  to 
ruin  the  design,  and  furnish  food  for  doubt  in  the  great 
mystery  of  the  Incarnation. 

As  by  the  disobedience  of  the  first  Eve  paradise  was 
closed,  it  was  fitting  that  by  the  obedience  of  the  second 
Eve  its  gates  should  again  swing  open ;  hence  Mary's 
answer:  "Behold  the  handmaid  of  the  Lord;  be  it  done 
unto  me  according  to  thy  word."  As  at  our  birth  our 
mother  brought  into  the  world  not  only  a  human  body 
but  an  immortal  soul  also,  we  speak  of  her  very  prop- 
erly as  our  mother,  the  mother  of  ourself  entire  who 
live,  think,  and  act;  body  and  soul  in  one  undivided 
personality,  and  not  of  our  material  body  alone. 

As  it  is  an  impossibility  that  our  mother  could  be  the 
mother  of  a  fractional  part  of  our  nature,  so  Mary 
could  not  be  the  mother  of  a  fractional  part  of  Christ. 
There  is  not  and  never  has  been  such  a  thing  known 
in  theology  or  philosophy,  as  the  mother  of  a  nature. 
It  follows  that  the  human  nature  of  Christ  being  in- 
separably united  to  the  divine  Word  begotten  of  the 
Father  from  all  eternity,  was  that  Holy  which  was 
born  of  the  Blessed  Virgin — the  Son  of  God.  The  aged 
St.  Elizabeth  understanding  this,  reverses  the  custom  of 
the  world  and  gives  respect  and  veneration  to  youth  in 
the  words  of  the  Gospel :  10  "And  whence  is  this  to  me, 
that  the  mother  of  my  Lord  should  come  to  me?" 

So  Mary  was  filled  with  grace  the  equal  of  which  no 
creature  ever  enjoyed.  A  creature  indeed,  but  the  blood 

10  St.   Luke   i,    43. 


The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  21$ 

relation  of  God;  higher  than  the  Cherubim  and  Sera- 
phim, and  all  the  hosts  of  heaven !  The  Catholic  Church 
has  mingled  the  praises  of  Mary  with  the  praises  of 
Mary's  Son,  and  both  have  been  honored  thereby. 

It  has  been  shown  that  Mary  could  not  be  the  mother 
of  a  nature,  and  that  if  Jesus  Christ  was  God,  then  the 
title  of  Mother  of  God  must  be  accorded  her.  If  Mary 
was  not  the  Mother  of  God,  she  was  the  mother  of  a 
man,  and  therefore  the  Arians  alone  can  claim  to  be 
orthodox.  That  the  Blessed  Virgin  had  toward  St. 
Joseph  marital  relations  like  any  other  wife  was  a 
discovery  of  the  "Reformation"  period,  and  it  is  most 
shocking  to  all  sense  of  propriety  and  the  fitness  of 
things  in  connection  with  the  exalted  dignity  of  so  great 
a  mystery  as  the  Divine  Incarnation.  Even  a  "  "mem- 
ber of  that  latitudinarian  organization  called  the  Church 
of  England"  says  that,  "it  cannot  \vith  decency  be  imag- 
ined that  the  holy  vessel,  which  was  once  consecrated 
to  be  a  receptacle  of  the  Deity,  should  be  afterwards 
desecrated  and  profaned  by  human  use." 

The  Gospel  expressly  declares  12  that  Mary  was  a  Vir- 
gin mother,  and  no  proof  can  be  found  that  she  did 
not  so  remain.  Protestants,  who  feel  competent  to 
explain  so  simple  a  book  as  the  Bible,  have  placed  their 
.reliance  upon  a  text  in  St.  Matthew's  Gospel  as  showing 
that  the  title  "Ever  Virgin"  bestowed  by  the  Church, 
was  a  doctrinal  error.  13  "Is  not  this  the  carpenter's 
son?  Is  not  his  mother  called  Mary,  and  his  brethren 


11  Bishop    Bull. 

12  Matt,    i,    23-25. 
is  Matt,    xili,    55-6. 


216  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

James,  and  Joseph,  and  Simon,  and  Jude :  And  his 
sisters,  are  they  not  all  with  us?" 

The  term  brethren,  as  used  in  Scripture,  may,  or  may 
not,  mean  that  relationship  which  we  associate  with  the 
word  brethren ;  14  it  may  mean  an  uncle,  15  or  a  cousin, 
36  or  a  friend  or  fellow-countryman,  or  17  those  of  equal 
rank,  or  18  those  of  the  household  of  faith.  Speaking 
of  the  brethren  of  Jesus,  therefore,  conveys  no  idea  of 
any  definite  relationship. 

From  a  verse  in  19  St.  Matthew,  and  one  from  20  St. 
Mark,  we  learn  that  at  the  crucifixion,  there  was  a  Mary 
who  was  looking  on  afar  ofr",  called  the  mother  of  James 
and  Joseph,  two  of  the  four,  mentioned  as  our  Lord's 
brethren.  In  St.  21  John's  Gospel  we  find  that  this  Mary, 
called  Mary  of  Cleophas — and  elsewhere  of  Alphaeus — 
was  a  kinswoman  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  In  the  Gos- 
pel of  St.  Luke,  22  James  is  spoken  of  as  the  son  of 
Alphaeus,  likewise  Simon  and  Jude,  the  former  being 
elsewhere  spoken  of  as  the  brother  of  the  Lord.  Here 
we  have  the  four:  James  and  Joseph,  Simon  and  Jude. 
It  is  certain  that  they  were  the  sons  of  Mary  of 
Cleophas  or  Alphaeus — a  near  relative  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  might,  after  the  Jewish  custom,  be  spoken 
of  as  our  Lord's  brethren. 

It  is  irreconcilable  with  good  sense  to  think  that  our 

i*  Gen.   xiii,   8. 
15  Gal.    i,    19. 
is  Acts   ill,    22. 
17  Matt,   xxiii,   8. 
is  Acts   i,    15-16. 

19  Matt,    xxvii,    56. 

20  Mark   xv,    40. 

21  John  xix,   25. 

22  Luke   vi,    15. 


The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  217 

divine  Lord  should  have,  solemnly  from  the  cross,  be- 
queathed his  mother  to  the  care  of  St.  John,  for  the 
remainder  of  her  life,  if  she  had  four  stalwart  sons — 
and  no  one  knows  how  many  daughters, — still  living. 
In  the  centuries  before  the  rise  of  protestantism,  history 
contains  no  record  of  thought  or  word,  so  common  and 
low,  as  this.  No  artist,  medieval  or  modern,  has  been 
bold  enough  to  portray  on  canvas  a  Holy  Family  of 
the  size  given  by  the  protestant  commentators. 

Protestants,  mistrusting  the  history  of  the  first  ages 
of  faith,  have  depended  entirely  upon  themselves  in  their 
efforts  to  place  the  mother  of  our  divine  Redeemer  in 
what  they  think  to  be  her  true  position  in  the  mystery 
of  the  Incarnation.  They  have  conceived  the  idea — 
through  a  misunderstanding  of  the  Scripture — that  all 
honor  given  the  Mother,  must  be  a  corresponding 
detraction  from  the  honor  due  the  Son.  But  how  a 
good  son  could  be  displeased  with  praise  bestowed  upon 
his  mother  seems  not  quite  clear,  as  their  interests  being 
identical,  attempts  made  to  detract  from  the  merits  of 
either,  must  be  prejudicial  to  both. 

This  idea  is  everywhere  present  in  protestant  com- 
ment ;  to  keep  in  the  background  and  to  belittle  as  much 
as  possible  the  merits  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  to  be  silent 
about  her  when  no  adverse  criticism  can  be  made,  is  the 
usual  practice.  They  say  that  our  Lord  spoke  harshly 
to  his  Mother  at  Cana ;  but  were  that  true,  it  would 
be  more  derogatory  to  her  divine  Son  than  to  her.  The 
history  of  protestantism  shows  that  those  who  are  seen 
in  the  front  rank  among  the  disparagers  of  the  Mother, 


10 


2i8  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

are  later  found  among  the  "advanced  thinkers  of  the 
day"  who  deny  the  divinity  of  her  Son. 

As  further  illustrating  the  persistence  of  this  new 
idea  of  the  brethren  concerning  Jesus  and  his  Mother; 
attention  is  called  to  an  excerpt  from  the  "Popular  and 
Critical  Bible  Encyclopaedia  and  Scriptural  Dictionary," 
by  Rt.  Rev.  Samuel  Fallows,  A.  M.,  D.  D.,  L.L.  D.23 
"Mary,  the  Mother  of  Jesus,  who.  in  later  times  has 
been  called  the  Virgin  Mary,  but  who  is  never  so 
designated  in  Scripture.  Little  is  known  of  this  highly 
favored  individual.  ...  As  her  history  was  of  no 
consequence  to  Christianity,  it  is  not  given  at  large. 
Her  genealogy  is  recorded  by  St.  Luke  with  the  design 
evidently  of  showing  that  Christ  was  of  the  royal  house 
and  lineage  of  David.  .  .  .  The  Protestant  spirit  of 
opposition  to  the  notion  about  the  perpetual  virginity 
of  Mary  has  led  many  commentators  to  contend  that  this 
(text  in  St.  Matthew)  must  be  taken  in  its  literal  sense, 
and  that  these  persons  are  to  be  regarded  as  children 
whom  she  bore  to  her  husband  Joseph  after  the  birth 
of  Christ.  We  incline  to  this  opinion  etc."  After  the 
birth  of  Christ,  the  events  following  are  mentioned, 
and  particularly,  "her  appearance  and  conduct  at  the 
marriage  feast  in  Cana;  her  attempt  in  the  synagogue 
at  Capernaum  to  induce  Jesus  to  desist  from  teaching. 
.  .  .  It  does  not  appear  that  Mary  ever  saw  Christ 
after  the  resurrection ;  for  she  was  not  one  of  the  chosen 
witnesses  specified  in  Scripture  as  Mary  Magdalene 
was." 

The  admission  that  this  article  was  inspired  by  the 

23  pp.    1120-310-1121. 


The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  219 

"protestant  spirit  of  opposition,"  shows  the  belief 
attacked  to  be  both  ancient  and  obnoxious  to  protestant 
minds.  Protestants  are  distrustful  of  Christian  antiquity, 
for  the  reason  that  Christian  antiquity  has  no  knowledge 
of  protestants.  So  they  fail  to  join  in  the  honor  given 
the  Blessed  Virgin  by  St.  Elizabeth  in  the  Gospel  of 
St.  Luke,  or  in  the  songs  of  praise  raised  to  her  name 
throughout  all  Christendom.  They  concern  themselves 
less  with  the  prophecy  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  all 
generations  shall  call  her  blessed,  than  with  the  opinions 
derived  from  "modern  thought"  concerning  her.  Do 
these  modern  explainers  ever  consult  St.  Augustine  and 
contemporary  writers  who,  in  the  earliest  days  of  the 
Church,  were  tireless  in  sounding  the  Blessed  Virgin's 
praise  ? 

While  the  pulpits  of  the  "rival  churches"  are  made 
to  ring  with  the  praises  of  the  women  of  the  Bible, 
Miriam,  Rachel,  Judith,  Esther,  Ruth,  and  in  the  New 
Testament,  Elizabeth,  Mary  Magdalene,  and  Martha, 
and  others,  yet  a  strange  silence  falls  upon  the  tongue 
of  eloquence  concerning  the  ever  virgin  Mother  of  our 
Lord.  Mary  is  designated  in  Scripture  as  a  virgin; 
she  is  also  so  designated  in  the  creeds  formulated  years 
after  her  death,  and  in  all  the  liturgies  of  the  Church 
founded  by  her  divine  Son.  Up  to  the  time  of  "the 
Great  Reformation,"  her  perpetual  virginity  was  no  more 
questioned  than  the  divinity  of  her  Son. 

"Little  is  known  of  this  highly  favored  individual." 
It  is  to  be  hoped  that  this  statement  refers  alone  to 
the  writer,  in  which  case  his  article  will  be  taken  as 
sufficient  proof.  Those  who  limit  the  source  of  their 


220  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

knowledge  regarding  faith  to  the  Bible  alone,  will  be 
often  disturbed  by  its  brevity  and  seeming  contradictions 
— notably  in  the  Gospels — but  which  studied  in  the  light 
of  contemporary  history,  and  tradition,  often  become 
clear  and  reconcilable.  A  short  time  would  suffice  to 
read  all  the  Bible  contains  anent  this  "little  known  in- 
dividual whose  history  is  of  no  consequence  to  Chris- 
tianity." 

24  The  angel  Gabriel  was  sent  from  God  into  a  city 
of  Galilee  to  a  virgin,  and  the  virgin's  name  was  Mary. 
And  the  angel  said  unto  her:  Hail  full  of  grace  the 
Lord  is  with  thee.  The  understanding  of  the  angel's 
message  which  had  the  sanction  of  fifteen  centuries  has 
been  changed  in  the  interests  of  the  "protestant  spirit 
of  opposition"  to  read,  "thou  that  are  highly  favored." 
Of  course  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  highly  favored  by 
being  chosen  above  all  the  women  of  earth  as  the  spouse 
of  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  shows  her  as  being  of  im- 
maculate purity,  it  being  unthinkable  that  the  Holy 
Ghost  could  espouse  guilt.  Favored  by  being  chosen 
to  be  the  Mother  of  the  divine  Saviour  of  the  world! 
And  still  "her  history  is  of  no  consequence  to  Chris- 
tianity" ? 

But  to  the  first  Christians,  she  was  more  than 
"favored"  she  "was  full  of  grace,"  and  the  object 
of  such  a  declaration  has  reached  the  acme  of  perfection 
in  sanctity — there  are  no  heights  beyond.  It  is  notice- 
able that  this  explainer  of  the  Scripture  in  his  cold- 
blooded article  has  not  once  used  the  word  "blessed," 
which  is  more  than  a  straw  in  its  significance. 

24  St.    Luke   i,    26-56. 


The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  221 

"The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the 
Holy  which  shall  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called  the 
Son  of  God,  and  Mary  said:  Behold  the  handmaid 
of  the  Lord;  be  it  done  unto  me  according  to  thy 
word."  The  second  Eve  here  gives  consent  to  the 
expressed  will  of  God.  She  had  the  same  free-will  to 
refuse  compliance  as  had  the  first  Eve  to  decline  obed- 
ience to  God's  will  anent  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of 
good  and  evil. 

The  blessed  and  glorious  Trinity  waits  for  the  Blessed 
Virgin's  consent  to  begin  the  work  of  man's  redemp- 
tion! And  yet  this  learned  expounder  of  Scripture  tells 
us  that  "the  history  of  this  individual  was  of  no  con- 
sequence to  Christianity!" 

Allusion  is  made  to  "her  appearance  and  conduct"  at 
the  marriage  at  Cana,  The  words  mentioned — particu- 
larly the  latter — are  not  generally  used  in  comments 
upon  wedding  guests  whose  behavior  needs  no  criti- 
cism. In  the  protestant  translation,  the  phraseology  of 
the  fourth  verse  owing  to  "the  protestant  spirit  of 
opposition"  to  Mary  has  changed  from  "woman,  what  is 
that  to  me  and  to  thee?"  to  the  more  harsh  and  less 
appropriate  wording  "what  have  I  to  do  with  thee?" 
It  is  easily  seen  that  in  their  eagerness  to  criticize  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  they  have  suggested  impoliteness  and 
harshness  on  the  part  of  her  divine  Son.  Here,  upon 
this  occasion,  the  commentator  had  an  excellent  oppor- 
tunity— which  perhaps  for  a  reason  other  than  inad- 
vertence he  failed  to  improve — of  informing  us  that 
upon  this  occasion,  our  Saviour  began — before  the  time 


222  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

set — his  public  ministry  on  earth,  by  performing  his 
first  miracle  at  the  request  of  his  Mother! 

The  animus  of  this  partisan  writer  is  nowhere  more 
plainly  shown  than  in  the  incident  at  Capernaum,  where 
the  expressed  wish  to  speak  to  her  Son,  is  mentioned  as 
an  effort  made  to  "induce  Jesus  to  desist  from  teaching !" 

If  those  whose  experience  in  spiritual  things  has, 
through  some  good  influence,  left  them  free  from  the 
narrow  lines  of  sectarian  bias,  will  but  for  a  moment 
reflect  upon  the  beautiful  life  of  the  Holy  Family; 
upon  the  unwearied  devotion  of  the  Virgin  Mother 
at  all  times,  and  especially  when  the  25  prophetic  sword 
of  sorrow  pierced  her  soul  as  she  witnessed  the  dying 
agonies  of  her  Son,  such  reflection  must  convince  them 
that  a  belief,  that  such  love  could  be  extinguished  at  the 
cross,  and  that  the  Virgin  Mother  made  no  further 
effort  towards  a  meeting,  is  a  thousand  times  more 
difficult  of  comprehension  than  the  catholic  belief  which, 
in  its  beautiful  naturalness,  has  come  down  to  us  from 
the  beginning. 

Let  us  in  charity  think  that  this  unnatural  and  im- 
probable explanation  is  not  received  as  a  belief  among 
our  friends,  but  as  only  one  of  many  opinions  whose 
truth,  no  one,  not  even  the  author,  could  be  expected 
to  verify.  There  can  be  no  comparison,  no  rivalry, 
between  the  sinless  maiden  who  was  The  Immaculate 
Conception  that  she  might  be  worthy  to  be  the  Mother 
of  God,  and  this  converted  sinner,  Mary  Magdalen, 
the  friend  of  the  divine  Saviour. 

The   holy   women   mentioned   came  after  the  manner 

25  St.    Luke    ii,    35. 


The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  223 

of  the  Jews  to  anoint  with  sweet  spices  the  body  of 
Jesus ;  not  as  chosen  witnesses  of  his  Resurrection,  and 
who  were  commanded  by  the  Angel  of  God,  to  "go  tell 
his  diciples  and  Peter,"  who  were  his  chosen  witnesses, 
where  they  were  subsequently  to  meet  him. 

The  ancient  liturgies  of  the  Church  unite  with  no  dis- 
senting voice  in  calling  Mary,  the  "Glorious  Ever  Vir- 
gin," and  Catholic  Tradition  has  sung  no  songs  more 
unitedly  and  perseveringly  through  the  Christian  Ages 
than  that  "a  Virgin  brought  forth,  yet  a  Virgin  re- 
mained." So  eminently  fitting  is  the  catholic  belief  in 
the  perpetual  virginity  of  Mary,  that  the  discordant 
note  which  protestantism  has  raised  concerning  it,  is 
easily  recognized  as  being  "of  the  earth  earthy,"  and 
is  incompatible  with  the  exalted  beauty  and  grandeur  of 
God's  great  work  inaugurated  for  man's  redemption 
by  the  Incarnation  of  his  Son. 

The  great  number  of  our  separated  brethren,  who 
have  denied  the  divinity  of  our  Lord,  failed  to  find  the 
divine  Child,  from  their  refusal  to  look  where  the 
first  Christians  found  him,  "with  Mary  his  Mother." 

In  the  Angelic  salutation,  these  words  are  found: 
"Blessed  art  thou  among  women."  Upon  the  visit 
of  Mary  to  her  cousin  St.  Elizabeth  the  latter  uttered 
in  a  loud  voice  the  same  words:  "Blessed  art  thou 
among  women,"  which  brought  from  Mary  this  concord- 
ant response:  "Behold  from  henceforth  all  generations 
shall  call  me  Blessed."  Does  this  protestant  explainer, 
call  Mary  "Blessed?"  Do  protestants  habitually  speak 
of  Mary  as  Blessed?  Would  it  not  be  in  the  nature 
of  an  accident, — a  slip  of  the  tongue — if  they  did? 


224  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

If  the  generations  of  men  who  refuse  to  take  part  in 
this  prophecy  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  constantly  neg- 
lect to  call  Mary  "Blessed,"  or  even  think  of  her  as 
such;  who  fail  to  regard  her  consent  as  a  necessity  of 
the  Incarnation, — let  them  think  when  they  trim  with 
shining  greenery,  and  red  berries,  their  temples  at 
Christmas  tide,  whether  or  not  they  have  any  part  or  lot 
in  the  matter.  It  is  an  occurrence  passing  strange,  that 
an  announcement  from  God's  throne  by  a  special  mes- 
senger— thus  presaging  news  of  the  greatest  import- 
ance— should  cause  our  brethren  of  many  names  to 
stand  aloof  from  it! 

The  protestant  educator  seemingly  speaks  approvingly 
of  "the  protestant  spirit  of  opposition,"  and  himself 
gives  an  example  of  opposition  to  the  divine  Will,  by 
refusing  to  call  Blessed,  whom  God  called  Blessed,  and 
whom  God  chose  also  to  be  the  Mother  of  his  Son,  the 
spouse  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  who  was  by  all  generations 
to  be  called  "Blessed  among  women."  The  design  of 
this  commentator  is  easily  seen  to  be  the  placing  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  on  a  plane  far  below  that  of  Mary 
Magdalen ! 

As  the  cavernous  depths  of  the  burntout  craters  of 
the  Moon,  swing  blind  and  blackening  in  the  morning 
air  untouched  by  the  day's  bright  beams ;  so  protest- 
antism, drear,  dark  and  cold,  suffers  an  additional  chill, 
at  the  mention  of  the  sweet  name  of  the  Blessed  Ever 
Virgin  Mary. 

Let  an  examination  now  be  made  concerning  how 
this  New  Testament  prophecy  is  fulfilled  in  the  Catholic 
Church.  A  devotion  called  the  Rosary  is  largely  prac- 


The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  225 

ticed,  in  which  Mary  is  called  Blessed  fifty  times.  There 
is  a  confraternity,  whose  members  encircle  the  earth,  and 
who  engage  to  perform  the  devotion  daily.  There  is 
also  another  confraternity  world-wide,  who  promise  to 
say  a  certain  allotted  portion  of  this  devotion  every 
twenty-four  hours  so  that  some  one  of  their  number 
will  be  engaged  in  calling  Mary,  Blessed,  at  all  hours 
of  the  day  and  night.  As  these  confraternities  exist 
all  over  the  world,  it  is  safe  to  aver  that  there  is  not  one 
tick  of  the  clock  year  in  and  year  out,  in  which  in 
some  part  of  the  world,  Mary  is  not  called  Blessed. 
In  the  Catholic  Church  alone  is  seen  the  fulfillment  of 
this  Gospel  prophecy.  If  we  could  imagine  that  this 
Church  should  at  once  be  overthrown,  be  lost,  as  it 
were,  in  the  blackness  of  annihilation,  where  then  would 
this  prophecy  see  its  fulfillment? 

Now  as  protestants  have  carefully  cut  themselves  off 
from  all  connection  with  this  Gospel,  by  their  refusal 
to  honor  whom  God  has  delighted  to  honor,  it  is  there- 
fore manifestly  true  that  the  Catholic  Church,  and  she 
alone  has  any  connection  with  this  part  of  God's  written 
Word  and  thus  is  the  true  explainer  of  the  Gospel;  the 
true  and  only  Church  of  the  true  and  only  God. 

As  protestants  insist  upon  restricting  the  meaning 
of  the  word  worship,  to  the  act  of  paying  divine 
honor,  it  becomes  necessary  to  deny  the  oft-repeated 
calumny  that  we  worship  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary. 
The  Council  of  Trent  defines  that,  "the  saints  reigning 
with  Christ  offer  up  their  prayers  to  God  for  men ; 
that  it  is  good  and  useful  suppliantly  to  invoke  them, 
and  to  have  recourse  to  their  prayers,  help  and  assist- 


226  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

ance,  to  obtain  favors  from  God  through  his  Son  Jesus 
Christ,  who  is  alone  our  Redeemer  and  Saviour." 

Catholics  pray  to  God  that  he  will  give  them  all 
desired  blessings,  but  to  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the 
saints,  for  their  intercessory  supplications,  as  any  Chris- 
tian may  ask  the  prayers  of  a  good  man  in  his  behalf; 
as  St.  Paul  asked  the  prayers  of  the  Churches  to  whom 
he  addressed  his  epistles ;  and  as  the  Almighty  com- 
manded the  friends  of  Job,  to  solicit  his  intercession 
for  the  pardon  of  their  sins.  So  we  say  "pray  for  us 
Holy  Mother  of  God,  that  we  may  be  made  worthy 
of  the  promises  of  Christ." 

26  "So  far  from  making  gods  and  goddesses  of  the 
saints  we  hold  that  as  they  have  no  virtue  or  excellence 
but  what  has  been  bestowed  upon  them  by  God,  for 
the  sake  of  his  Son  Jesus  Christ,  so  they  can  procure 
no  benefit  for  us  but  by  means  of  their  prayers  to  the 
Giver  of  all  good  gifts,  through  their  and  our  common 
Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  In  short  they  do  nothing  for  us 
mortals  in  heaven,  but  what  they  did  while  they  were 
here  on  earth,  and  what  all  good  Christians  are  bound 
to  do  for  each  other,  namely  they  help  us  by  their 
prayers.  The  only  difference  is  that  as  the  saints  in 
heaven  are  free  from  every  stain  of  sin  and  imperfec- 
tion, are  confirmed  in  grace  and  glory,  so  their  prayers 
are  more  efficacious  for  obtaining  what  they  ask  for, 
than  are  the  prayers  of  us  imperfect  mortals. 

Protestants  seek  to  raise  an  objection  to  the  invo- 
cation of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  saints,  by  the 
affirmation  that  Christ  is  the  only  Mediator  between 

26  "End   of   Controversy,"    Milner,    p.    228. 


The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  227 

God  and  man.  In  this  we  heartily  concur,  as  St.  Paul 
teaches  Z1  "There  is  one  Mediator  between  God  and  men, 
the  man  Christ  Jesus."  That,  however,  can  in  no  sense 
militate  against  the  mediation  of  the  saints,  which  is 
entirely  intercessory,  and  wholly  dependent  on  the  media- 
tion of  Christ. 

Our  opponents  also  contend  that  the  invocation  of 
the  saints  presupposes  in  them  the  divine  attribute  of 
omnipresence,  which  is  blasphemous.  To  this  may  be 
answered  that  if,  28  "there  is  joy  before  the  angels  of 
God  over  one  sinner  that  repenteth,"  it  would  appear 
that  perhaps  a  part  of  the  felicity  of  the  saints  in 
heaven  consists  in  watching  over  their  friends  on  earth, 
and  in  rejoicing  over  the  good  effects  of  the  intercession 
which  they  themselves  have  made  for  them.  But  if 
this  be  not  so,  still  God  is  quite  able,  and  we  may 
suppose  willing,  to  reveal  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and 
the  saints,  the  supplications  addressed  to  them  by  us 
poor  mortals  here  below. 

The  practice  of  invoking  the  aid  of  angels  is  found 
in  the  Old  Testament  in  many  places.  29  Jacob  asked 
and  obtained  a  blessing  from  the  angel  with  whom  he 
mystically  wrestled ;  30  he  also  invoked  a  blessing  from 
his  angel,  for  Joseph's  sons.  And  again,  31  that  Joshua 
fell  upon  his  face  before  an  angel  and  worshiped. 
But  if  a  catholic  were  to  be  seen  praying  before  a 
picture  or  statue  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  or  some  saint, 

27  I    Timothy   ii,    5. 

28  Luke   xv,    10. 

29  Gen.    xxx,    11,    26. 
so  Gen.    xlvii,    16. 

ai  Joshua  v,   14. 


228  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

a  protestant  onlooker  would  experience  the  confirma- 
tion of  that  early  teaching  regarding  the  idolatry  of 
catholics,  although  the  picture  or  statue  would  be 
regarded  by  the  user  as  a  representation  only,  and 
would  be  no  more  worshiped  than  is  the  bedpost 
before  which  so  many  protestants  delight  to  pray. 

Pictures  and  statues  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the 
saints  are  used  as  a  help  to  devotion  by  exciting  feel- 
ings of  respect  and  veneration  for  the  subjects  of  them, 
as  we  are  reminded  by  the  pictures  of  Washington, 
Lincoln  and  others  what  these  noble  men  did  for  our 
country.  Our  friends  need  have  no  fear  that  there  is 
a  catholic  on  earth  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  the 
sinfulness  and  uselessness  of  praying  to  stocks  and 
stones. 

St.  Basil  in  the  fourth  century  says :  32  "I  invoke  the 
apostles,  prophets  and  martyrs  to  pray  for  me,  that 
God  may  be  merciful  to  me,  and  forgive  me  my  sins. 
I  honor  and  reverence  their  images  since  these  things 
have  been  ordained  by  tradition  from  the  apostles,  and 
are  practiced  in  all  our  Churches." 

In  the  writings  of  St.  Irenaeus  we  read :  33  "We 
venerate  and  worship  the  angelic  host,  and  the  spirits 
of  the  prophets,  teaching  others  as  we  ourselves  have 
been  taught."  That  the  saints  in  heaven  pray  for  us 
seems  evident  from  the  passage  in  Revelations  34  where 
the  four  and  twenty  elders  have  "golden  vials  full 
of  odors,  which  are  the  prayers  of  saints."  Now  as 
the  saints  in  heaven  have  no  longer  need  of  prayers 

32  Epist.    205-7-111,    edit.    Paris. 

33  Apol.   2  prope  Init. 

34  Rev.    v,    8. 


The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary  229 

for  themselves,  and  as  there  is  no  one  besides,  that 
they  could  pray  for,  it  seems  fair  to  presume  whom 
they  pray  for  us,  and  therefore  it  must  be  right  to 
ask  for  their  intercession.  All  the  Eastern  Churches 
which  separated  from  us — centuries  before  modern 
protestantism  was  thought  of — fully  agree  with  us  as 
to  the  great  benefit  to  be  derived  from  the  invocation 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  and  the  saints. 

The  divine  Son  on  the  cross,  in  confiding  his  Mother 
to  his  beloved  disciple  St.  John,  made  her,  as  it  were, 
the  mother  of  us  all.  Our  confidence  in  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin's love  and  intercession,  is  the  confidence  of  children 
in  their  mother.  At  mere  mention  of  Mary's  name, 
Satan  trembles,  but  her  children's  hearts  are  softened 
and  the  way  prepared  for  a  greater  trust  and  confidence 
in  Mary's  Son. 

Mary  is  a  creature,  and  between  the  created  and 
the  Creator,  is  a  sea  of  wide  extent,  a  gulf  unfathom- 
able. The  Church  would  hold  under  an  anathema 
those  who  would  worship  as  Divine  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin, or  declare  her  the  equal  of  her  Son.  Mary  is 
not  the  source,  but  the  channel,  through  which  God's 
graces  flow  to  men.  In  loving  and  honoring  Mary,  we 
only  do  what  God  himself  has  done,  and  whose  example 
it  is  always  safe  to  follow.  We  have  less  fear  that 
the  divine  Son  will  be  displeased  if  we  love  his  Mother, 
than  if  we  loved  her  not;  for  those  who  love  the 
Mother  will  never  deny  the  Son.  If  Mary  was  not  the 
Mother  of  God,  as  St.  Elizabeth  said  she  was,  then 
the  Bible  is  not  true  and  the  Christian  religion  a  vain 
delusion. 


230  The  Blessed  Virgin  Mary 

Considering  all  that  has  been  said  in  this  chapter,  let 
the  reader  have  no  fear  to  join  with  us  in  the  Angelical 
Salutation:  "Hail  Mary,  full  of  grace;  the  Lord  is 
with  thee.  Blessed  art  thou  among  women,  and  blessed 
is  the  fruit  of  thy  womb,"  Jesus.  And  fail  not  to  con- 
clude in  the  language  of  the  Catholic  Church  of  all 
ages:  "Holy  Mary,  Mother  of  God;  pray  for  us  sin- 
ners now  and  at  the  hour  of  our  death." 


CHAPTER   XII. 
PURGATORY  AND  PRAYERS  FOR  THE  DEAD. 

1  "It  is  therefore  a  holy  and  wholesome  thought  to 
pray  for  the  dead,  that  they  may  be  loosed  from  sins." 
The  doctrine  that  there  is  besides  heaven  and  hell,  an 
intermediate  place  of  detention  where  the  souls  of  the 
faithful  departed  undergo  a  purifying  process — as  gold 
is  subjected  to  the  refiner's  fire  before  it  becomes  pure, 
—is  a  doctrine  which  together  with  its  correlative  of 
prayers  for  the  dead,  is  one  of  the  most  ancient  beliefs 
known  to  man,  and  which  long  antedates  the  coming 
of  the  new  law  of  grace  and  truth  by  Jesus  Christ. 

If  our  opponents  contend  that  the  quotation  at  the 
commencement  of  this  chapter  is  not  from  the  Bible, 
it  should  be  a  sufficient  refutation  to  say,  that  it  was 
our  divine  Lord's  most  common  practice  to  quote  Scrip- 
ture from  the  Septuagint  which  contains  the  words 
above  written.  He  knew  that  the  Jews,  in  accord  with 
the  text,  practiced  praying  for  the  dead,  but  although 
finding  fault  with  them  for  many  things,  it  is  nowhere 
recorded  that  he  had  ever  reproved  them  for  practicing 
this  Scriptural  injunction. 

This  doctrine  of  a  middle  state,  believed  by  the 
Church,  from  the  beginning,  was  treated  by  the  "reform- 
ers" with  the  greatest  hostility.  The  statement  of  the 
text  quoted,  in  the  clearness  and  freedom  from  ambi- 

i  II  Machabees  xii,  46. 


232      Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead 

guity,  made  their  explanations  of  it  an  impossibility. 
There  was  nothing  to  be  done  but  to  kill  the  witness. 
The  Church  of  England  declared  it  "a  fond  thing 
vainly  invented,  and  grounded  upon  no  warranty  of 
Scripture,  but  rather  repugnant  to  the  Word  of  God." 
Therefore  the  books  of  the  Machabees  were  excluded 
from  the  English  protestant  Bible.  Now  if  this  text  is 
in  the  Bible,  that  of  itself  alone  would  be  sufficient  to 
establish  the  catholic  belief. 

The  Septuagint — a  Greek  version  of  the  Old  Tes- 
tament— was  made  by  the  Hellenist  Jews  about  two 
centuries  before  Christ.  St.  Augustine  spoke  of  the 
Septuagint  as  "approved  by  the  Apostles."  In  the  New 
Testament,  out  of  three  hundred  and  fifty  quotations 
from  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  about  three  hun- 
dred were  from  the  Septuagint.  The  Council  of  Hippo, 
A.  D.  393,  pronounced  the  first  and  second  books  of 
Machabees,  canonical.  The  Council  of  Carthage,  A.  D. 
397,  declared  the  same  books  canonical,  giving  the 
reason  that  "it  is  from  our  fathers  that  we  hold  that 
these  books  are  those  which  should  be  read  in  the 
Church."  Pope  Innocent  I,  A.  D.  405,  in  the  list  of 
canonical  books  includes  the  two  books  of  the  Macha- 
bees. In  the  year  679,  Pope  Gelasius  declared  canon- 
ical the  same  books.  The  Council  of  Trent  affirms 
the  judgment  A.  D.  1545,  sanctioned  by  the  Vatican 
Council  in  1870. 

We  know  that  the  Greek  Church  has  the  same  canon 
of  Scripture,  for  in  the  seventeenth  century  the  protest- 
ants  made  overtures  for  a  union  with  that  Church, 
but  the  canon  of  Scripture  proved  an  insurmountable 


Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead      233 

obstacle,  the  Greeks  holding  to  the  same  canon  as  the 
Council  of  Trent  saying:  "We  regard  all  these  books 
as  canonical;  we  recognize  them  as  Holy  Scripture,  be- 
cause they  have  been  transmitted  to  us  by  ancient  cus- 
tom, or,  by  the  Catholic  Church." 

It  is  very  easy  to  recognize  the  work  of  the  protest- 
ant  explainer  who  fears  not  to  expunge  from  the  Bible 
what  he  does  not  wish  to  see  there — and  as  in  this 
case, — places  on  the  level  of  spurious  writings,  that 
which  had  been  declared  by  Jew,  and  Christian,  to  be 
the  Word  of  God. 

The  "New  International  Encyclopedia"  under  the 
heading  "Apocrypha"  says:  "It  has  been  customary, 
since  the'  time  of  Jerome  to  apply  the  term  to  a  num- 
ber of  writings  which  the  Septuagint  had  circulated 
amongst  the  Christians,  and  which  were  sometimes 
considered  as  an  appendage  to  the  Old  Testament,  and 
sometimes  as  a  portion  of  it.  The  Greek  Church,  at 
the  Council  of  Laodicea,  A.  D.  360,  excluded  them 
from  the  canon." 

If  we  consult  the  article  under  the  heading  "The 
Books  of  the  Machabees"  in  the  same  work,  the  state- 
ment is  found  that  "the  first  and  second  books  are 
declared  canonical  by  the  Council  of  Trent.  The  third 
(book)  is  also  considered  canonical  by  the  Greek 
Church."  So  in  one  volume  of  the  Encyclopaedia  we 
are  told  that  the  Greek  Church  excluded  from  the 
canon  of  Scripture  the  first  and  second  books,  and  in 
another  volume,  that  the  same  Church  declared  the  first, 
second  and  third  books  to  be  canonical. 

As  the  Greek  and  Latin  Churches  were,  at  this  time, 


234      Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead 

in  union  under  the  Roman  Pontiff,  their  canon  of 
Scripture  was,  necessarily,  the  same  and,  as  a  matter 
of  fact,  has  always  so  remained. 

Our  opponents  seek  unweariedly  for  a  tangible  con- 
nection with  the  past;  they  speak  and  write  about  Aug- 
ustine, Jerome  and  a  score  or  two  like  sturdy  Papists. 
They  show  familiarity  with  these  ancient  authorities 
by  quotations  from  their  works ;  but  in  all  this  polite- 
ness and  seeming  good-fellowship,  there  is  to  be  feared 
an  interested  motive:  they  take,  here  and  there,  some 
part  of  an  argument  or  statement  which,  separated 
from  its  context,  makes  the  venerable  author  a  witness 
for  themselves. 

In  Dr.  Fallows'  Protestant  Encyclopaedia,  is  to  be 
found  a  case  in  point ;  where  St.  Augustine  is  quoted 
as  saying:  "Let  us  omit  those  fabulous  books  of  Scrip- 
ture which  are  called  apocryphal  because  their  secret 
origin  was  unknown  to  the  Fathers."  Further  on  in 
the  article  is  a  list  of  apocryphal  books  according  to 
the  protestant  canon ;  containing  of  course  the  two  books 
of  the  Machabees.  The  design  is,  that  the  unsuspicious 
reader  will,  through  this  quotation,  connect  St.  Augus- 
tine with  the  rejection  of  the  two  books  of  the  Mach- 
abees. 

While  Augustine  may  well  have  been  the  author  of 
the  quotation,  yet  the  attempt  to  connect  him  with  the 
approval  of  the  protestant  canon  of  Scripture,  adopted 
many  centuries  afterwards,  may,  through  the  inatten- 
tion of  a  careless  or  prejudiced  reader,  accomplish  its 
purpose ;  yet  it  can  hardly  be  considered  in  harmony 
with  the  highest  moral  principles  of  mankind.  The 


Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead      235 

testimony  of  St.  Augustine  was,  that  the  two  books  of 
the  Machabees,  were  "approved  by  the  Apostles,"  and 
he  was  present  and  assisting  at  the  Council  of  Car- 
thage, when  these  books  were  declared  to  be  the  Word 
of  God. 

This  is  but  one  of  a  thousand  instances,  in  which 
the  venerable  Fathers  of  Christendom  have  been  com- 
pelled to  do  duty  as  witnesses  in  favor  of  protestant- 
ism. As  all  efforts  to  connect  primitive  Christianity 
with  the  rejection  of  these  books  will  result  only  in 
failure,  it  follows  that  the  existence  of  Purgatory  and 
the  practice  of  prayer  for  the  dead,  the  title  of  this 
chapter,  is  a  divinely  revealed  doctrine  and  not  a  "fond 
thing  vainly  invented,"  but  stands  duly  accredited  as 
Scriptural  doctrine  sanctioned  by  the  tradition  of  nearly 
twenty  centuries. 

Our  divine  Lord,  in  St.  John's  Gospel,  says :  2  "No 
man  hath  ascended  into  heaven,  but  he  that  descended 
from  heaven."  Where  then  were  the  souls  of  the 
just,  from  Adam,  until  Christ?  Not  being  allowed  to 
enter  heaven  till  after  Christ's  Ascension,  these  souls 
were  detained  in  limbo,  and  it  was  to  them  that,  ac- 
cording to  3  St.  Peter's  first  epistle,  Christ  preached 
after  his  death  to  "those  spirits  who  were  in  prison." 

From  the  Scriptures  then  we  learn,  that  the  souls 
of  the  departed  are  not  necessarily  either  in  heaven 
or  hell,  but  may,  for  a  time,  be  in  a  third  place. 
Since  Christ's  ascension,  by  which  act  heaven  was 
opened  to  the  just,  there  is  no  longer  need  for  the 

2  John    iii,    13. 

3  I   Peter  iii,    19. 


236      Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead 

prison  of  the  just;  but  the  need  for  the  prison  of  hope, 
the  refiner's  fire,  Purgatory,  will  remain  till  the  end  of 
time. 

Again,  St.  Paul  4  is  found  praying  for  Onesiphorus 
"because  he  hath  often  refreshed  me,  and  was  not 
ashamed  of  my  chain.  The  Lord  grant  to  him  to 
find  mercy  of  the  Lord  on  that  day."  Dr.  Dollinger 
remarks  on  the  text  that  5  "the  Ephesian  Onesiphorus, 
was  clearly  no  longer  among  the  living.  St.  Paul 
praises  him  for  his  service  but  does  not,  as  elsewhere, 
send  salutations  to  him,  but  only  to  his  family."  6  The 
protestant  Jeremy  Taylor,  admits  that  Onesiphorus  was 
dead  at  the  time  of  the  Apostle  Paul's  prayer  for  him. 
A  protestant  Dictionary  of  the  Bible,  upon  this  subject, 
says :  7  "It  is  not  perfectly  clear  whether  at  the  time 
when  St.  Paul  wrote,  Onesiphorus  was  alive  or  dead ; 
but  the  references  to  his  'house'  rather  than  to  him- 
self make  it  most  probable  that  he  was  now  dead." 

Had  this  important  text,  from  St.  Paul's  Epistle  to 
Timothy,  first  seen  light  in  II  Machabees,  its  fate  would 
necessarily  have  been  linked  with  the  text  at  the  com- 
mencement of  this  chapter,  and  the  protestant  air  would 
have  been  "perfectly  clear,"  regarding  any  mention  of 
the  error  of  St.  Paul's  course  in  here  praying  for  the 
dead  Onesiphorus.  But  as  a  greater  appearance  of 
safety  lay  in  relegating  to  a  level  of  spurious  writings 
these  books  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  no  appearance 


4  II  Tim.    i,   16-18. 

5  "First  Age  of   the  Church,"   p.   251. 

e  Works  of  Jeremy  Taylor,   D.   D.,   Vol.  vi,   p.   462. 
7  "A     Die.     of     the     Bible,"     Vol.     iii,     p.     622,     James    Hastings, 
M.    A.(    D.    D. 


Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead      237 

of  safety  in  a  like  treatment  of  the  books  of  the  New 
Testament;  therefore  it  is,  that  our  brethren  tread,  with 
halting  steps  and  tender  feet,  the  ancient  and  thorny 
grave  of  Onesiphorus.  Thus  some  protestant  com- 
mentators ignore  entirely,  and  others  dispute  the  death 
at  this  time  of  Onesiphorus,  while  others  admit  it,  but 
deny  that  St.  Paul  prayed  for  the  dead  Ephesian,  but 
only  expressed  "a  pious  wish  for  his  spiritual  welfare!" 

As  protestants  have  declined  to  receive  light  from 
any  source  save  from  the  Sacred  pages,  the  light  which 
the  history  of  early  years  throws  upon  the  explanations 
of  Bible  texts,  and  the  pious  practices  that  naturally 
follow  those  explanations  being  excluded,  our  friends 
are  cut  off  from  one  of  the  most  reliable  sources  of 
information  in  existence,  and  as  in  this,  so  with  many 
other  instances,  are  able  to  reach  no  conclusion  pos- 
sessing either  clearness  or  certainty.  If  the  ancient 
liturgies  be  carefully  examined,  even  the  most  preju- 
diced can  hardly  fail  to  acknowledge  that  it  was  a  cus- 
tom universally  observed  "to  pray  for  the  dead  that 
they  may  be  loosed  from  sins." 

These  liturgies  may  not  be  welcome  evidence,  but 
they  cannot  be  gainsaid,  they  are  historical  witnesses 
to  the  truth,  and  conclusively  prove  that  St.  Paul  was 
not  introducing  an  innovation,  but  following  the  usual 
practice  when  praying  for  the  departed  Onesiphorus. 

Liturgy  of  Jerusalem.  8  "Remember,  O  Lord,  the 
God  of  spirits  and  of  all  flesh,  those  orthodox  whom 
we  have  remembered,  and  those  also  whom  we  have 
not  remembered,  from  just  Abel  even  unto  this  day; 

8  "Faith   of    Catholics,"    Capel,    Vol.    iii,    p.    201. 


238      Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead 

do  thou  give  them  rest  in  the  region  of  the  living  in 
thy  kingdom,  in  the  delights  of  paradise,  in  the  bosoms 
of  our  holy  fathers  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  whence 
sorrow,  grief,  and  lamentation  are  banished  away, 
where  the  light  of  thy  countenance  visits  and  shines 
continually." 

Liturgy  of  Alexandria.  "Give  rest,  O  Lord  our  God, 
to  the  souls  of  our  fathers  and  brethren,  who  are  de- 
parted in  the  faith  of  Christ;  being  mindful  of  our 
forefathers  from  the  beginning  of  the  world,  fathers, 
patriarchs,  prophets,  apostles,  martyrs,  confessors,  bish- 
ops, saints,  just  men,  and  every  spirit  of  those  who 
have  died  in  the  faith  of  Christ;  and  of  those  whom 
we  this  day  commemorate,  and  of  our  holy  father 
Mark  the  Apostle  and  evangelist,  who  showed  unto 
us  the  way  of  salvation.  .  .  .  And  give  rest  to  the 
souls  of  all  these,  O  Lord  our  God,  in  the  tabernacles 
of  thy  saints,  granting  unto  them  in  thy  kingdom  thy 
promised  good  things,  which  eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear 
heard  .  .  .  Give  rest  to  their  souls,  and  vouch- 
safe them  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 

Not  desiring  to  unnecessarily  weary  the  reader,  we 
briefly  refer  to  the  liturgies  of  Constantinople,  the 
Syriac  liturgy,  Roman,  Armenian,  Nestorian,  Coptic, 
Etheopian,  Jacobite,  as  well  as  all  existing  liturgies, 
none  of  which  are  without  prayers  for  the  dead. 

9  Tertullian  in  his  work,  "advises  a  widow  to  pray  for 
the  soul  of  her  departed  husband,  imploring  for  him 
repose  and  a  participation  in  the  final  resurrection,  and 
the  making  of  oblations  for  him  on  the  anniversary 

9  Ch.    x    on    single    marriages. 


Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead      239 

days  of  his  death."  St.  Augustine  says :  10  "The  pray- 
ers of  the  Church,  or  of  good  people,  are  heard  in 
favor  of  those  Christians  who  departed  this  life  not  so 
bad  as  to  be  deemed  unworthy  of  mercy,  nor  so  good 
as  to  be  entitled  to  immediate  happiness.  So  also,  at 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  some  will  be  found  to 
whom  mercy  will  be  imparted,  having  gone  through 
those  pains  to  which  the  spirits  of  the  dead  are  liable. 
It  would  not  have  been  said  of  some,  with  truth,  that 
their  sin  shall  not  be  forgiven,  neither  'in  this  world, 
nor  in  the  world  to  come,'  unless  some  sins  were  for- 
given in  the  next  world." 

Origen  thus  explains  I  Corinthians,  third  chapter, 
thirteenth  and  fifteenth  verses :  n  "If  on  the  founda- 
tion of  Christ,  you  have  built  not  only  gold  and  silver 
and  precious  stones,  but  also  wood  and  hay  and  stubble, 
what  do  you  expect  when  the  soul  shall  be  separated 
from  the  body?  Would  you  enter  into  heaven,  with 
your  wood  and  hay  and  stubble,  to  defile  the  kingdom 
of  God :  or,  on  account  of  these  encumbrances,  remain 
without,  and  receive  no  reward  for  your  gold  and  silver 
and  precious  stones?  Neither  would  this  be  just.  It 
remains  then  that  you  be  committed  to  the  fire,  which 
shall  consume  the  light  materials ;  for  our  God,  to 
those  who  can  comprehend  heavenly  things,  is  called 
a  'consuming  fire.'  But  this  fire  destroys  the  wood, 
and  hay,  and  stubble,  not  the  creature,  but  what  the 
creature  has  himself  built.  It  is  manifest  then  that  in 
the  first  place,  the  fire  destroys  the  wood  of  our  trans- 

10  De   Civit    Dei.    lib.    xxiv. 

11  Horn,    xvi,    in    Jer. 


240     Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead 

gressions,  and  then  returns  to  us  the  reward  of  our 
good  works." 

St.  Chrysostom  writes :  12  "It  was  not  without  good 
reason  'ordained  by  the  Apostles,'  that  mention  should 
be  made  of  the  dead  in  the  tremendous  mysteries  (the 
Mass),  because  they  knew  well  that  they  would  receive 
great  benefit  from  it." 

Many  volumes  would  be  required  to  contain  all  that 
the  Fathers  have  written  upon  this  subject  during  that 
period  in  which  protestants  themselves  have  maintained 
that  the  Church  had  not  yet  lost  its  innocence,  had  not 
succumbed  to  the  aggressions  of  the  Papacy.  They 
hear  the  voice  of  all  Christian  antiquity  proclaiming 
the  existence  of  Purgatory  a  fact  beyond  question,  yet 
they  are  not  inclined  to  hear  its  voice,  not  convinced, 
though  it  speak  ever  so  wisely. 

Our  friends  wish,  and  expect,  to  reach  heaven  in- 
deed ;  but  the  route,  to  meet  their  approbation,  must 
be  direct,  continuous,  and  pleasant.  They  do  not  wish 
to  spend  any  time  on  the  way,  particularly  in  Purga- 
tory; but  just  in  that  condition  and  state  of  spiritual 
imperfection,  in  which  death  may  overtake  them,  and, 
being  perhaps  wholly  unappreciative  of  the  immensity 
of  God's  holiness,  they  feel  no  misgivings  about  ap- 
pearing at  once,  with  all  their  human  frailties  and  the 
soil  of  their  earthly  life  still  fresh  upon  them,  with 
their  little  accumulations  of  wood,  hay,  and  stubble — 
face  to  face  with  that  dread  Presence,  of  whom  it  has 
been  written  that  none  without  the  wedding  garment 
of  perfect  holiness  may  dare  to  look.  Surely  this  must 

12  "Faith  of  Catholics,"  Vol.  ii. 


Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead      241 

be  the  acme  of  presumption.  Seldom  a  faithful  saint 
is  seen  without  some  trifling  imperfections ;  but  what 
is  to  be  said  of  the  majority  of  faithful  sinners? 

Protestants,  in  the  extreme  of  charity,  consign  their 
dead  relatives,  and  friends,  to  immediate  perfect  bliss  in 
heaven,  although  living  with  them  on  earth  the  latter 
may,  at  times,  have  been  somewhat  in  the  nature  of  a 
trial  of  patience  to  the  former.  Suffering  and  death 
naturally,  and  rightly,  claim  our  sympathy,  and  disarm 
criticism;  but  our  dead,  simply  because  they  are  dead, 
are  no  nearer  saintship  than  when  living. 

The  ordinary  Christian,  being  but  a  frail  creature  at 
best,  much  dross  is  found  with  the  gold  of  his  good 
works:  of  this  dross  the  soul  must  be  cleansed  in  the 
refiner's  fire,  or  remain  stained  with  it  outside  the 
heavenly  portals. 

All  sin  is  punished  either  in  this  world  or  in  the  world 
to  come.  The  few  Christians  who  die  sinless,  will  go 
directly  to  heaven.  Those  whose  mortal  sins  remain 
unforgiven  at  death,  will  go  directly  to  hell.  The  third 
class,  however,  those  whose  mortal  sins  have  been  for- 
given in  the  great  consolatory  Sacrament  of  confession, 
and  yet  are  far  from  being  free  from  imperfections  and 
lesser  sins,  for  the  punishment  of  which,  eternal  damna- 
tion would  not  serve  the  ends  of  God's  justice,  are  mer- 
cifully provided  with  a  third  place — Purgatory,  where 
they  will  suffer  punishment  in  proportion  to  the  gravity 
and  number  of  their  offenses. 

In  this  way  God  is  enabled  to  "reward  every  man 
according  to  his  works."  Saint  Paul  says :  13  "Every 

is  I    Cor.    iii,    13-15. 


242      Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead 

man's  work  shall  be  manifest;  .  .  .  and  the  fire 
shall  try  every  man's  work,  of  what  sort  it  is.  If  any 
man's  work  abide,  he  shall  receive  a  reward.  If  any 
man's  work  burn,  he  shall  suffer  loss ;  but  he  himself 
shall  be  saved,  yet  so  as  by  fire."  The  evident  meaning 
of  this  Scripture  is,  that  those  who  at  death  have  be- 
sides their  good  works,  much  wood,  stubble,  and  hay — 
symbolizing  venial  sins — must  abide  in  the  refining 
flames  of  Purgatory,  until  fitted  for  the  abode  of  celes- 
tial bliss  where  perfect  holiness  alone  contemplates 
through  the  Beatific  Vision — the  face  of  God! 

Overconfident  must  be  our  separated  brethren,  to 
prefer  their  own  private  opinion  to  that  of  the  Church 
whose  voice,  living  and  perpetual,  sounds  as  a  trumpet 
blast  through  the  ages  from  the  days  of  the  Apostles 
to  the  present  time.  A  voice  that  without  shadow  of 
variableness  echoes,  in  their  very  words,  the  teachings 
of  Origen,  Augustine,  and  the  Fathers  of  Christendom 
whose  names  protestants  profess  to  reverence,  and  who, 
from  their  nearness  to  the  Apostolic  age,  must  have 
known,  if  any  people  on  earth  could  be  supposed  to 
know,  what  the  first  teaching  upon  this  subject  really 
was. 

It  has  been  shown  that  first  the  Jews,  then  the  primi- 
tive Christians,  the  Greeks,  and  every  Eastern  sect  that 
separated  from  us,  thought  it  "a  holy  and  a  wholesome 
thought  to  pray  for  the  dead,"  and  in  the  ritual  of  the 
Episcopal  Church,  we  find  this  prayer:  "And  we  be- 
seech thee,  that  we,  with  all  those  who  are  departed 
in  the  true  faith  .  .  .  may  have  our  perfect  con- 


Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead      243 

summation  and  bliss,  both  in  body  and  soul,  in  thy 
eternal  and  everlasting  glory,"  etc. 

In  the  II  book  of  the  Machabees  we  read  that  "Mach- 
abeus  sent  twelve  thousand  drachms  of  silver  to  Jeru- 
salem for  sacrifice  to  be  offered  for  the  sins  of  the 
dead  (his  slain  companions),  thinking  well  and  relig- 
iously concerning  the  resurrection.  For,  if  he  had 
not  thought  that  they  that  were  slain  should  rise  again, 
it  would  have  seemed  superfluous  to  pray  for  the  dead." 
The  practice  of  praying  for  the  dead,  and  especially 
that  of  almsgiving  in  connection  therewith,  was  severely 
reprobated  by  the  "reformers." 

Those  who  are  accustomed  to  the  practice  of  economy 
in  religious  practices,  are  wont  to  feign  commiseration 
for  catholics,  who,  because  they  give  alms  for  various 
religious  purposes — among  them  offerings  for  the  Holy 
Sacrifice  of  the  Mass  in  aid  of  the  souls  in  Purgatory 
— are  regarded  as  being  systematically  fleeced,  in  the 
interests  of  superstition,  by  a  rapacious  clergy. 

Upon  this  subject  the  historian  Lingard  remarks: 
14  ''During  the  controversial  war  which  sprung  from 
the  reformation,  when  the  prejudice  of  party  eagerly 
accepted  every  accusation  against  the  clerical  orders, 
writers  were  strongly  tempted  to  sacrifice  the  interests 
of  truth  at  the  shrine  of  popularity.  They  pretended 
to  discover,  that  the  practice  of  praying  for  the  dead 
originated  in  the  interested  views  of  the  clergy,  who, 
while  they  applauded  in  public,  ridiculed  in  private  the 
easy  faith  of  their  disciples. 

"The    idea    may    be    philosophic,    but    it    is    pregnant 

14  "Anglo    Saxon    Church,"    p.    154-5. 


244      Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead 

with  difficulties.  The  man  who  first  detected  the  im- 
posture should  have  revealed  the  mysteries  by  which 
it  had  previously  been  concealed.  He  should  have  ex- 
plained by  what  extraordinary  art  it  was  effected,  that 
of  the  thousands  who  during  so  many  ages  practiced 
the  deception,  no  individual  in  an  unguarded  moment, 
no  false  brother  in  the  peevishness  of  discontent,  re- 
vealed the  dangerous  secret  to  the  ears  of  a  misguided 
and  impoverished  people. 

"He  should  have  shown  why  the  conspirators  pre- 
served even  among  themselves  the  language  of  hypoc- 
risy; why,  in  their  private  correspondence,  they  anx- 
iously requested  from  each  other  the  prayers  which 
they  mutually  despised;  and  why  they  consented  to 
make  so  many  pecuniary  sacrifices  during  life,  merely 
to  obtain  what  they  deemed  an  illusory  assistance  after 
death. 

"Till  these  difficulties  can  be  removed,  we  may  safely 
acquit  the  Anglo  Saxon  clergy  of  the  charges  of  im- 
posture and  hypocrisy.  The  whole  tenor  of  their  lives 
deposes  that  they  believed  the  doctrines  which  they 
taught;  and  if  they  erred,  they  erred  with  every  Chris- 
tian Church  which  then  existed,  and  with  every  Chris- 
tian Church  which  had  existed  since  the  first  publication 
of  the  Gospel." 

What  more  consoling  thought,  than  that  our  dear 
ones,  who  have  passed  to  that  "new  and  undiscovered 
country,  from  whose  bourn  no  traveler  returns,"  can 
yet  find  help  and  succor  in  their  great  necessity,  from 
our  alms  and  prayers.  Let  us  then,  who  by  our  inter- 
cessions have  stormed  high  heaven  for  the  welfare  of 


Purgatory  and  Prayers  for  the  Dead      245 

our  friends  on  earth,  not  forget  them  at  the  grave ; 
remembering  well  the  text,  that  "it  is  a  holy  and  whole- 
some thought  to  pray  for  the  dead." 

Death  is  but  the  temporary  separation  of  the  body  and 
soul;  the  body  alone  dies,  the  soul  lives  on.  In  Purga- 
tory, the  soul,  sensible  to  the  pain  of  the  deferred  vision 
of  God  and  of  material  fire,  yet  hopes,  remembers,  loves. 
In  hell  on  the  contrary  cursing,  raging,  and  choking  in 
the  sulphurous  fumes  of  a  fire  that  never  consumes, 
that  is  never  extinguished;  the  souls  of  the  damned, 
damned  because  they  refused  succor — live  on  forever 
and  forever  in  indescribable  agony,  remorse,  and  despair. 

15  « 

If  thou  shouldst  never  see  my  face  again, 

Pray  for  my  soul.     More  things  are  wrought  by  prayer 

Than  this  world  dreams  of.     Wherefore,  let  thy  voice 

Rise  like  a  fountain  for  me  night  and  day. 

For  what  are  men  better  than  sheep  or  goats 

That  nourish  a  blind  life  within  the  brain, 

If,  knowing  God,  they  lift  not  hands  of  prayer 

Both   for  themselves  and  those   who  call  them   friend? 

For  so  the  whole  round  earth  is  every  way 

Bound  by  gold  chains  about  the  feet  of  God." 

is  Tennyson. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 
INDULGENCES. 

That  an  Indulgence  is  a  permission  to  commit  sin 
is  the  belief  of  many  protestants :  their  words,  and  their 
writings,  give  evidence.  That  this  belief,  in  some  cases, 
is  retained  for  the  pleasure  it  gives,  seems  likely  when 
we  notice  the  difficulty  in  removing  these  impressions, 
and  the  probability  of  their  ultimate  return.  When  a 
pleasing  bit  of  knowledge  has  been  acquired  in  one's 
youth,  it  is  given  up  with  reluctance  in  after  life,  and 
its  ghost  is  apt  to  haunt  us  even  after  our  belief  in 
ghosts  has  passed  away  forever. 

Readers  of  protestant  history  would  do  well  to  re- 
member, that  an  Indulgence  can  be  obtained  only, 
through  the  absolution  of  the  priest  following  a  full 
and  contrite  confession  of  sin.  Our  friends,  zealous 
for  our  welfare,  and  seemingly  suspicious  that  the 
Church  will  make  so  easy  the  terms  of  our  pardon, 
that  we,  discerning  the  facility  with  which  sin  is  for- 
given, may  be  the  more  readily  enticed  to  a  greater 
fall,  are  untiring  in  their  efforts  to  keep  the  danger 
before  us.  But  all  this  solicitude  appears  unnecessary, 
if  we  stop  to  think  of  the  relative  care  and  thought 
considered  necessary  by  each  in  the  important  work  of 
obtaining  God's  pardon  for  sin. 

The  protestant  in  his  "closet,"  confesses  to  God — as 
much  or  as  little  as  he  likes — he  also  confesses  with 


Indulgences  247 

great  decorum  in  public  with  others,  that  "we  have  left 
undone  those  things  which  we  ought  to  have  done; 
And  we  have  done  those  things  which  we  ought  not 
to  have  done ;  And  there  is  no  health  in  us."  All  of 
which  seems  comparatively  easy ;  nothing  here  of  a 
humiliating  character,  all  is  polite,  proper,  and  pleasing. 

On  the  other  side,  the  catholic  to  obtain  God's  pardon 
for  his  sins,  must  spend  some  time  in  prayer  that  he 
may  secure  grace  and  enlightenment  to  know  his  sins 
and  to  be  truly  contrite  for  them;  he  must  meditate 
upon  the  greatness  of  even  a  small  sin  when  the  offense 
is  against  a  God  of  infinite  holiness.  The  penitent  will 
also  make  a  careful  examination  of  his  conscience  by 
the  aid  of  the  Ten  Commandments,  regarding  his  three- 
fold duty  to  God,  to  his  neighbor  and  to  himself.  The 
preparatory  work  being  finished,  the  catholic,  waiting 
his  turn  enters  the  confessional  and  kneels  on  a  soft 
and  luxurious  board.  The  Father  Confessor  being 
occupied  with  a  penitent  on  the  other  side,  our  sup- 
posed penitent  will  wait  his  convenience.  During  this 
brief  season  of  expectancy  and  trepidation  the  novice 
will  note  the  absence  of  any  aperture  through  which, 
according  to  protestant  legends,  money  is  to  be  passed 
to  the  priest. 

The  penitent  begs  the  Father's  blessing,  and  with 
head  bowed  down  says :  "I  confess  to  Almighty  God, 
to  Blessed  Mary  ever  virgin,  to  Angels  and  Saints,  and 
to  you  Father;  that  I  have  sinned  exceedingly  in 
thought,  word,  and  deed,  through  my  most  grievous 
and  exceeding  great  fault."  Here  must  be  given  an 
exact  account  of  all  sins  committed  since  the  last  con- 


248  Indulgences 

fession.  Perhaps  he  has  indulged  to  excess  in  eating 
or  drinking;  been  neglectful  of  his  neighbor's  honor; 
given  too  low  a  valuation  of  his  property  to  the  as- 
sessor; strained  the  truth  in  reciting  the  good  qualities 
and  freedom  from  blemishes  of  a  horse,  which  he  has 
for  sale.  He  may  have  broken  one  of  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments, or  engineered  a  corner  in  wheat,  or  fuel — 
thank  God  not  yet  on  air — by  which  resulted  untold 
suffering  to  God's  poor. 

The  account-book  of  God,  must  be  unabridged  and 
kept  in  double  entry,  to  show  all  the  sins  that  men 
and  women  in  good  social  standing  commit  in  the  mad 
rush  for  wealth  and  position,  in  an  age  which — if  not 
prone  to  overscrupulousness  in  its  methods — yet  pro- 
fesses to  be  charmed  with  the  thought  of  much  learning, 
and  the  graces  and  refinements  of  life. 

In  confession  all  sins  must  be  declared,  for,  if  the 
penitent  through  carelessness  or  shame,  makes  a  con- 
fession other  than  complete,  far  from  obtaining  God's 
pardon  through  the  absolution  of  the  priest,  goes  out 
of  the  confessional  more  guilty  than  when  he  came  in. 
All  catholics  know  that  much  at  least  about  confession. 
In  this  case,  supposing  the  penitent  to  have  made  a 
good  confession,  he  will  upon  his  knees  before  the 
Blessed  Sacrament  return  hearty  thanks  for  the  infinite 
mercy  of  God  that  has  enabled  him  to  perform  this  act 
of  penance,  and,  feeling  the  burden  of  his  sins  re- 
moved, is  joyful  of  heart  as  a  prisoner  loosed  from  his 
chains.  Rich  in  blessings  and  inexpressibly  sweet  are 
these  moments  before  the  Blessed  Sacrament  after  con- 
fession. 


Indulgences  249 

Now  the  penitent  will  say  the  prayers  which  the 
confessor  gave  as  a  penance.  Ordinarily  these  few 
things  are  all  that  strict  obligation  requires  for  obtain- 
ing the  pardon  of  sin.  It  would  seem  that  this  work 
would  be  sufficient  to  deter  catholics  from  rushing  into 
sin  as  soon  as  they  leave  the  confessional;  but  alas!  do 
not  protestants  tell  us,  that,  frequently  the  confessional 
has,  on  the  contrary,  the  effect  of  encouraging  sin.  "It 
is  evil  and  that  continually,"  says  good  Dr.  Barnes  in 
his  "Gospel  Notes."  There  remains  something  to  be 
further  considered.  Though  the  penitent  has  received 
pardon  he  will  not  escape  the  temporal  punishments  due 
for  the  sins  which  he  has  confessed.  This  according  to 
protestant  reasoning  would  be  another  inducement  to 
repeat  the  offense. 

The  penitent  having  done  penance  is  now  ready  to 
complete  the  requirements  for  securing  an  Indulgence 
by  preparing  himself  through  the  medium  of  suitable 
devotions  for  making  a  worthy  communion;  after  which 
he  will  say  the  prescribed  prayers  for  the  Pope's  inten- 
tion, and  make  his  thanksgiving.  Then  he  may  hope 
that  by  the  grace  of  God  and  the  favor  of  the  Sover- 
eign Pontiff,  he  has  secured  an  Indulgence.  That  which 
is  above  all  price,  has  been  obtained  without  price! 

It  would  seem  to  the  unprejudiced  reader  that  no 
comparison  could  be  instituted  regarding  the  thorough- 
ness, extent,  and  humiliating  character  of  the  work  per- 
formed by  the  two  parties  in  this  supposed  case.  The 
protestant  has  not  confessed  to,  or  before  men,  but  in 
secret  and  in  the  dark.  Without  a  skillful  and  dis- 
interested counselor — a  Prophet  Nathan,  to  say  "thou 
11 


250  Indulgences 

art  the  man" — is  it  not  possible,  nay  likely,  that  he 
may  through  bias,  and  that  self  love  that  doth  hedge 
ns  in,  have  failed  to  realize  the  full  extent  and  gravity 
of  his  fault,  and  thus  have  invalidated  his  confession? 

David  failed  to  comprehend  the  enormity  of  his 
transgression  until  the  awakening  of  his  conscience  un- 
der the  scathing  denunciation  of  the  prophet.  Our 
friends  are  often  aware  of  our  frailties  and  shortcom- 
ings, when  the  sentinel  on  our  watch-tower  is  calling 
"all's  well."  In  mentioning  a  circumstance  to  one's  con- 
fessor, it  is  often  in  the  nature  of  a  surprise,  to  con- 
sider the  viewpoint  from  which  an  entirely  impartial 
judge  will  regard  what  we  were  inclined  to  believe 
to  be  a  fair  excuse. 

Our  protestant  friend  having  neglected  the  Scripture 
which  says,  "confess  therefore,  your  sins  one  to  an- 
other," and  having  no  physician  of  the  soul  to  bring  to 
mind  and  assist  him  to  discover  the  quality,  nature,  and 
extent  of  his  fault,  would  be  likely  to  be  more  indul- 
gent with  himself  than  would  an  entirely  disinterested 
adviser.  The  catholic,  who  has  the  advantage  of  good 
advice,  is  more  likely  to  make  a  good  confession  than 
the  other.  Again  the  test  of  humility  is  wanting  in 
the  confession  to  God  alone;  it  is  comparatively  easy  in 
the  solitude  of  one's  chamber  with  the  door  locked,  to 
confess  to  God,  but  when  a  gentleman  goes  to  another 
gentleman,  and  getting  down  on  his  knees  before  him, 
tells  of  some  particularly  outrageous  sin  which  he  has 
committed,  while  certainly  embarrassing,  it  is  also  a 
first-rate  test  of  one's  humility  and  sorrow.  The  chances 
are  ten  to  one,  that  he  who  confesses  to  God  alone, 


Indulgences  251 

will  repeat  the  offense,  rather  than  he  who  confesses 
to  the  priest  as  God's  agent. 

After  this  brief  sketch  regarding  the  method  of  ob- 
taining an  Indulgence,  it  is  necessary  to  inquire  what 
an  Indulgence  is.  As  the  system  of  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments is  the  basic  principle  of  all  government,  we 
see  the  practice  of  granting  Indulgences  in  use  both  in 
civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs. 

Let  us  take  the  case  of  a  prisoner  under  sentence  of 
death.  His  friends  may  efficaciously  plead  for  a  full 
pardon,  and  thereby  secure  for  him  what  we  should  call 
a  Plenary  Indulgence. 

Thus  we  see  during  the  Civil  War,  President  Lincoln 
exercising  this  prerogative  in  favor  of  many  a  young 
soldier  sentenced  to  be  shot  for  dereliction  of  duty; 
his  great  heart  being  unable  to  withstand  a  mother's 
tears.  Again,  every  convicted  felon  in  our  prison,  is 
entitled  under  the  credit  system,  to  a  remission  of  a 
certain  number  of  days  or  years  of  penal  servitude  as 
a  reward  for  good  behavior,  which  is  practically  what 
we  call  an  Indulgence  of  so  many  days  or  years. 

The  catholic,  because  of  this  system  is  far  more 
diligent  in  frequenting  the  sacraments  of  Confession, 
and  Communion,  than  might  otherwise  be  the  case,  that 
he  may,  by  obtaining  Indulgences,  shorten  his  stay  in 
the  purgatorial  fires.  The  felon  works  with  courage 
and  perseverance  that  he  may  the  sooner  secure  the 
sweet  boon  of  freedom.  The  student  at  school  does 
his  best  work  under  the  stimulus  given  by  the  credit 
system.  The  soldier,  the  civilian,  and  all,  in  the  various 
walks  of  life,  strive  for  excellence  under  the  alluring 


252  Indulgences 

prospect  of  a  just  reward.  The  disciples  of  the  Master 
received  no  reproof  for  manifesting  their  desire  to  know 
what  it  should  profit  them  for  having  left  all  to  follow 
him.  Without  the  lure  of  heaven  before  our  eyes,  who 
among  the  best  of  us  would  be  enamored  of  penances 
and  prayers  ? 

A  principle  of  action  which  our  divine  Lord  has 
sanctioned,  his  Apostles  have  practiced,  and  which  the 
nations  of  the  earth  have  adopted,  must  be  considered 
as  the  best  of  all  systems  for  all ;  and  as  we  have  seen, 
this  system  is  nothing  new,  but  simply  the  catholic 
doctrine  of  Indulgences.  What  then  must  be  thought 
of  the  discernment  of  those  who  would  find  that  the 
convict's,  the  soldier's,  the  scholar's  Indulgences  must 
lead  to,  and  constitute  in  themselves  a  license  to  com- 
mit sin ! 

Strictly  speaking,  an  Indulgence  is  the  remission  of 
a  part — sometimes  the  whole — of  the  temporal  punish- 
ment which  remains  due  to  sin,  after  it  has  been  for- 
given in  the  Sacrament  of  Penance.  As  an  instance  in 
point,  after  David  had  obtained  God's  forgiveness  for 
his  great  sin,  he  was  severely  punished  by  the  sentence 
of  death  passed  upon  the  innocent  child.  Had  the 
great  God  been  sufficiently  moved  by  the  supplications 
of  the  King  to  rescind  the  penalty,  and  preserve  the 
life  of  his  offspring,  David  would  have  received  a  Ple- 
nary Indulgence. 

As  the  Church,  through  her  ministers,  has  the  power 
to  remit  sin  as  to  its  eternal  punishment,  so  she  has 
also  the  power  to  remit  the  temporal  punishment  in- 
curred, which  lesser  grant  is  naturally  included  in  the 


Indulgences  253 

greater,  the  power  of  binding  and  loosing  given  to  the 
Prince  of  the  Apostles  in  the  words :  1  "Whatsoever 
thou  shalt  bind  on  earth  shall  be  bound  also  in  heaven : 
and  whatsoever  thou  shalt  loose  on  earth  shall  be  loosed 
also  in  heaven." 

As  the  Catholic  Church  never  changes  her  doctrines, 
it  follows  that  the  doctrine  under  consideration  has  re- 
mained the  same  that  Luther  believed  and  taught  before 
he  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  the  faith.  Luther  knew 
well  that  never  in  the  history  of  the  Catholic  Church, 
had  the  payment  of  money  been  a  factor  -  necessary  in 
the  acquirement  of  an  Indulgence. 

The  Indulgence  which  Tetzel  was  authorized  to 
preach,  and  to  which  Luther  took  exception,  was  granted 
by  Leo  X.  for  the  double  purpose  of  increasing  the 
spiritual  blessings  of  the  people,  and  the  accumulation 
of  money  for  the  building  of  the  greatest  of  all  the 
cathedrals  of  the  world.  Surely  it  was  a  noble  thought 
to  use  God  given  talents,  and  the  perfection  of  human 
skill,  in  the  raising  on  high  to  the  honor  of  God,  the 
grandest  temple  that  the  world  has  ever  seen,  St. 
Peter's,  the  masterpiece  of  man. 

A  vast  number  took  up  the  design  of  the  Pope  with 
enthusiasm,  large  sums  were  obtained,  and  thus  St. 
Peter's  became  the  modern  glory  of  ancient  Rome. 
While  it  was  the  money  alone  that  built  the  great  cathe- 
dral, it  was  not  the  money  alone — wrung  from  Christ's 
poor,  as  Luther  would  have  us  believe — that  obtained 
the  Indulgence.  All  the  penitential  exercises  before 
mentioned  were  to  be  performed  with  all  possible  care 

i  Matt,    xvi,    19. 


254  Indulgences 

and  devotion  as  in  the  sight  of  God.  No  person  in  a 
state  of  mortal  sin  could  secure  the  Indulgence  preached 
hy  Tetzel,  were  he  to  offer  millions  for  it.  \Yhile  an 
Indulgence  may  be  obtained  without  money,  it  cannot 
be  obtained  with  money. 

The  people  who  gave  the  money,  gave  it  of  their  own 
free  will,  with  the  intention  of  honoring  God,  and 
benefiting  themselves.  There  was  no  compulsion  about 
it,  they  were  free  to  take  it,  and  equally  free  to  leave 
it  alone.  Besides  this  particular  Indulgence,  there  were 
numerous  others  that  could  be  had  without  contributing 
money. 

As  Indulgences  have  never  been  sold — in  the  ordi- 
nary meaning  of  the  term  bargain  and  sale — the  hue 
and  cry  raised  about  it  is  but  a  vain  beating  of  the 
air,  showing  a  want  of  good  faith  and  of  that  charity 
that  thinketh  no  evil  *"As  was  proper  in  this  case, 
the  rich  paid  the  greatest  sum,  the  moderately  circum- 
stanced a  smaller  sum,  and  the  very  poor  nothing,  yet 
all  received  a  like  benefit. 

"It  is  difficult  to  get  the  facts  concerning  Tetzel's 
work,  but  it  seems  likely  that  he  was  not  the  best 
selection  that  could  have  been  made,  and  that  his  zeal 
ran  far  ahead  of  his  discretion." 

The  fact  that  Luther  knew  the  teachings  of  the 
Church  concerning  Indulgences,  and  the  further  fact  of 
his  misrepresentations,  together  with  the  scurrility  of 
his  language,  shows  that  he  was  not  in  good  faith,  and 
in  his  account  of  the  Pope's  Indulgence,  which  here 

*  "Hist.  West.  Europe."  by  Prof.  James  Harvey  Robinson,  p.  »1- 


Indulgences  2 ; ; 

follows,  the  founder  of  protestantism  appears  as  though 
playing  to  the  galleries  for  applause. 

•"It  happened  in  the  year  1517,"  he  tells  us,  "that 
a  preaching  friar,  Johann  Tetzel  by  name,  came  hither, 
a  noisy  fellow.  .  .  .  The  same  Tetzel  hawked  about 
the  Indulgence  and  sold  grace  for  money,  dear  or  cheap 
as  best  he  could.  At  the  time  I  was  a  preacher  here 
in  the  monastery,  and  a  young  doctor  fresh  from  the 
anvil,  glowing  and  bold  in  Holy  Scripture.  As  many 
people  went  from  Wittenberg  .  .  .  after  the  In- 
dulgence, I — so  truly  as  Christ  redeemed  me — not  know- 
ing what  the  Indulgence  was  .  .  .  began  to  preach 
mildly  that  men  might  do  better  than  purchase  the 
Indulgence.  .  .  .  Now,  to  come  to  the  true  cause 
of  the  Lutheran  teaching,  I  let  all  go  on  as  it  went  ( !). 
However,  it  comes  to  my  mind  how  that  Tetzel  had 
preached  loathsome  and  fearful  articles,  which  I  will 
now  name,  to  wit:  Item,  the  red  Indulgence-cross,  with 
the  Pope's  banner  erected  in  the  churches,  was  as  effi- 
cacious as  the  cross  of  Christ. 

"Item,  if  St.  Peter  were  here  now,  he  could  have  no 
greater  grace  or  power  than  he  had  himself.  Item,  he 
would  not  change  places  in  heaven  with  St.  Peter;  for 
he  had  released  more  souls  with  Indulgence  than  St. 
Peter  by  his  preaching.  Item,  when  a  coin  was  placed 
in  the  chest  for  a  soul  in  purgatory,  as  soon  as  the 
penny  fell  ringing  upon  the  bottom,  the  soul  imme- 
diately started  for  heaven.  Item,  there  was  no  need 
to  feel  grief,  or  sorrow,  or  repentance  for  sin,  if  a 
man  bought  the  Indulgence.  Tetzel  also  sold  the  right 

s  "Hist,   of   Eng.,"   by  Henry  Smith  Williams,   VoL  xvii,   p.   2S2. 


256  Indulgences 

to  sin  in  future  time.  He  pushed  his  traffic  to  a  fearful 
extent:  everything  might  be  done  for  money." 

The  language  of  this  excerpt — a  part  of  which  from 
its  extreme  "frankness"  has  been  omitted — is  easily 
recognizable  as  that  of  Luther.  It  is  surprising  that 
Luther  had  no  knowledge  of  what  the  Pope's  Indul- 
gence was,  yet  felt  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  preach 
against  it.  Did  he  wish  us  to  understand  that  he 
oftenest  preached  upon  those  subjects  of  which  he  knew 
nothing?  Or  was  it  that  whatever  the  Pope  saw  fit  to 
order,  Luther  on  general  principles  and  without  knowl- 
edge concerning  it,  saw  fit  to  oppose?  It  seems  out 
of  the  usual  course,  that  he  should  make  oath  to  an 
unimportant  statement,  and  fail  to  do  so  when  attribut- 
ing acts  to  Tetzel,  which  if  true,  would  consign  him  to 
the  shame  and  contempt  of  all  men.  Thus  the  language 
attributed  to  Tetzel  remains  uncorroborated  by  either 
oath  or  witness. 

It  is  well-nigh  impossible  for  protestant  preachers, 
editors,  historians,  novelists,  and  writers  in  general,  to 
use  correct  terms  in  describing  catholic  belief  and  prac- 
tice. It  has  never  been  denied  by  our  critics  that  Tetzel 
was  a  representative  catholic,  for  it  is  to  their  interest 
to  maintain  that  fact;  but  if  Tetzel  was  a  catholic,  he 
could  never  have  used  the  language  contained  in  the 
"items,"  which  is  a  wicked  and  monstrous  perversion 
of  catholic  truth,  and  which  embodies  all  the  stock-in- 
trade  misrepresentations  which  protestants — at  a  later 
date  than  that  of  Tetzel's  preaching — introduced  in  their 
efforts  to  discredit  this  doctrine. 

The    "items"    seem    but    a    retrospective    glance,    the 


Indulgences  257 

things  that  came  into  Luther's  mind  after  the  lapse  of 
years ;  a  postprandial  day  dream  of  an  old  man  after 
indulging"  to  an  unwarrantable  extent  in  the  pleasures 
of  the  table ;  a  weakness  for  which  the  great  founder  of 
protestantism  was  as  much  renowned  as  for  the  "gift 
of  using  strong  smiting  phrases"  after  his  awakening. 

As  a  fitting  close  to  the  "items,"  Luther  charges  that 
Tetzel  "sold  the  right  to  sin  in  future  time."  Knowing 
catholic  doctrine,  Luther  knew  this  to  be  impossible. 
Had  the  protestant  doctor,  "glowing  and  bold  in  Holy 
Scripture,"  ever  read  there,  that  "thou  shalt  not  bear 
false  witness  against  thy  neighbor?" 

There  seems  to  be  in  these  days  an  occasional  spor- 
adic case  among  protestant  writers,  where  they  are  just 
about  to  grasp  the  thought  that  perhaps  it  is  as  well 
to  be  reasonably  fair,  lest  the  discovery  might  be  made, 
that  for  its  moral  support  a  just  cause  needs  no 
fabrications.  One  such  protestant  writer  in  referring 
to  this  subject,  says :  4  "It  is  a  common  mistake  of 
protestants  to  suppose  that  the  Indulgence  was  forgive- 
ness granted  beforehand  for  sins  to  be  committed  in  the 
future.  There  is  absolutely  no  foundation  for  this  idea. 
A  person  proposing  to  sin  could  not  possibly  be  contrite 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Church,  and  even  if  he  secured  an 
Indulgence,  it  would,  according  to  the  theologians,  have 
been  quite  worthless." 

Tardy  justice  is  no  doubt  better  than  none,  but  it 
requires  more  than  one  act  of  reparation  to  balance 
centuries  of  calumny.  The  charge  that  the  Catholic 
Church,  in  this  doctrine,  sells  permission  to  its  people 

4  "Hist,  of  Western  Europe,"  J.  H.   Robinson,  p.  391. 


258  Indulgences 

to  commit  sin,  launched  into  the  world  by  the  ex-priest 
Luther,  has  kept  its  tens  of  thousands  outside  the  gates 
of  the  "one  true  fold  of  the  one  true  Shepherd,"  and 
has  for  centuries  been — in  effect — as  much  believed  as 
the  Bible  itself. 

Perhaps  the  doctrine  had  been  abused  as  every  good 
thing  has  at  one  time  or  another;  but  who  was  the 
paragon  Luther  who  cast  the  first  stone?  He  was  a 
man  who  had  broken  his  vows,  who  had  abducted  a 
nun  from  her  convent;  who  had  for  the  smiles  of  a 
prince,  sold  an  Indulgence  sanctioning  his  desire  to 
commit  bigamy ! 

Yes,  there  were  some  corrupt  monks  in  the  old  days. 
Martin  Luther  was  one  of  them. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

MISREPRESENTATIONS  BY  PROTESTANT  MISSIONARIES  AND 
OTHERS. 

If  we  consider  the  expense  attending  the  proselyting 
incursions  into  catholic  domain  by  the  "rival  churches/' 
it  will  be  found  that  owing  to  the  necessity  of  sending 
at  a  distance  not  only  a  missionary,  but  a  missionary's 
wife,  numerous  progeny,  and  necessary  baggage  trains, 
the  returns  in  conversions  seem  small  in  proportion  to 
the  outlay. 

In  all  countries,  there  will  be  found  those  who  are 
dissatisfied  with  whatever  exists,  if  for  no  better  reason 
than  that  it  exists.  This  is  largely  the  class  that  upon 
the  advent  of  the  protestant  missionary,  help  to  unfurl 
his  banner  and  hie  themselves  to  the  protestant  chapel 
where,  posing  as  "converted  Romanists,"  they  are  sure 
of  a  warm  welcome.  As  the  first  fruits  of  the  mission 
their  testimony  is  valuable  in  establishing  a  good  re- 
port concerning  the  efficiency  of  the  worker  in  the  field. 
While  the  mission  may  not  be  a  success  as  regards  the 
number  of  conversions  made;  yet,  through  the  highly 
colored  reports  of  the  work  sent  home,  interest  is  re- 
vived and  protestant  prejudice  stimulated  to  a  new 
growth.  Thus  protestant  life  at  home  is  largely  kept  up 
by  missionary  work  abroad. 

As  misrepresentations  concerning  the  moral  condi- 
tions prevailing,  especially  attacks  upon  the  character 


260  Misrepresentations 

of  her  priests  made  in  a  home  community  where  their 
lives  are  as  an  open  book,  would  prove  detrimental  to 
their  accusers  only,  it  is  evident  that  to  accomplish  the 
desired  result,  accusations  must  come  from  a  distance 
so  remote  as  to  bar  investigation  as  to  their  truth. 
Here  then  is  the  foreign  missionary's  golden  oppor- 
tunity. The  glowing  accounts  regarding  the  whiteness 
of  the  harvest  now  ready  for  the  protestant  sickle  in 
catholic  lands ;  the  longing  for  the  coming  of  protestant- 
ism with  its  "Open  Bible"  to  usher  in  the  new  century 
light  of  freedom  and  progress — makes  instructive  read- 
ing for  the  home  bureau,  and  conduces  to  greater  finan- 
cial efforts  in  the  cause. 

During  the  many  elaborations  of  the  theme,  we  learn 
that  great  numbers  of  these  poor  papists  have  never 
heard  there  was  a  Bible ;  the  priests,  in  the  interests  of 
their  continued  subjection,  preferring  to  keep  that 
knowledge  from  them.  The  rapacity  of  the  priests  for 
coin  is  said  to  be  insatiable,  and  a  large  proportion  of 
the  poor  live  in  sin,  unable  as  they  are  to  pay  the 
marriage  fees  required.  When  the  same  class  die  they 
have  no  priest  as  they  are  unable  to  pay  the  price  of  a 
Mass!  Without  the  knowledge  that  God  alone  can  for- 
give sin,  these  poor  wretches  pay  their  hard  earned 
money — those  that  can — for  the  priests'  pardon,  and  if 
they  should  wish  to  sin,  ever  so  little,  in  the  future, 
that  privilege  can  only  be  had  by  payment  strictly  in 
advance. 

That  this  picture  may  not  seem  overdrawn,  we  quote 
from  the  "California  Christian  Advocate,"  of  March 
31st,  1904:  "In  most  of  these  countries,"  Mexico, 


Misrepresentations  261 

South  America,  Austria  and  Italy,  "nearly  fifty  per  cent, 
of  the  children  are  born  out  of  wedlock.  They  have 
few  divorces  because  the  good  people  are  not  cere- 
monially married.  Thousands  cannot  pay  the  price  these 
merciless  friars  fix." 

The  same  paper  of  November  21st,  1907,  publishes 
the  following  in  its  notices  of  new  books :  l  "This  book," 
says  Rev.  Editor  Bovard,  "is  not  written  to  promote 
strife,  but  to  spread  information."  This  is  the  "infor- 
mation": "A  Catholic  priest  of  Chicago,"  says  the 
Rev.  Author,  "has  recently  published  the  following: 
'One  priest  made  a  specialty  of  working  miracles  by 
using  a  certain  brand  of  holy  water  which  he  put  up. 
His  laboratory  was  stocked  with  bottles  and  corks.  In 
the  corner  was  an  ordinary  city  hydrant.  He  got  tired 
blessing  a  quantity  of  water  from  time  to  time,  so  he 
blessed  the  hydrant,  and  then  when  he  wanted  holy 
water  he  filled  the  bottle  directly  from  the  faucet.  The 
holy  water  was  to  be  taken  internally  and  applied  ex- 
ternally. I  knew  of  a  case  where  a  poor  workman  gave 
fifteen  dollars  to  cure  his  wife.  All  the  poor  man  got 
for  his  money  was  a  bottle  of  this  holy  water.  The 
wife  died  and  the  family  was  evicted  for  non-payment 
of  rent.'  The  depth  of  superstition  is  not  easily  sound- 
ed, the  author  thinks,  and  we  (Rev.  Mr.  Bovard)  agree 
with  him  that  Christian  education  will  cure  Romanism. 
If  this  booklet  were  read  by  the  Roman  laity,  they 
would  have  their  eyes  opened." 

"A  Catholic  priest  of  Chicago"  is,  in  case  we  should 
wish  to  look  him  up,  rather  indefinite.  When  protestant 

i  "The  Claims  and  History  of  the  R.  C.  Church,"  by  Rev. 
Henry  Schutz,  of  the  M.  E.  Church. 


262  Misrepresentations 

ministers  tell  their  charming  little  stories,  "for  general 
information,"  about  the  teachings  of  "Romanists,"  from 
their  ignorance  concerning  the  same,  they  often  fall 
into  the  mire. 

We  have  never  heard  of  the  use  of  holy  water  as  a 
medicine,  or  as  an  assisting  agent  in  the  performing  of 
miracles.  As  there  are  other  ingredients  in  holy  water, 
than  water,  it  could  not  have  been  produced  by  blessing 
a  hydrant.  As  one  may  often  see  in  Catholic  Churches, 
a  barrel  of  holy  water  with  faucet  and  funnel  for  the 
convenience  of  those  who  may  wish  to  take  a  quantity 
home,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  it  is  never  sold  for  any 
purpose,  and  that  no  "certain  brand"  is  known. 

As  in  the  celebrated  case  of  the  Milkmaid  where  the 
fall  of  one  pail  of  milk  caused  the  loss  of  eggs,  chick- 
ens, and  a  new  green  dress,  so  here,  the  payment  of 
fifteen  dollars  to  the  priest,  caused  the  death  of  the  wife 
and  the  eviction  from  the  family  home  of  the  poor  man 
and  his  children!  Pause,  kind  readers,  and  drop  a  tear. 

In  a  later  number  of  the  Christian  Advocate  is  found 
the  following:  "We  should  look  naturally  for  per- 
manency in  the  marriage  relation  in  Roman  Catholic 
countries,  but  instead  we  find  a  lamentable  condition 
prevailing.  Adultery  and  illegitimacy  are  rife  and  ram- 
pant in  all  these  Catholic  countries.  Though  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  teaches  the  indissoluble  character  of 
the  marriage  vows,  no  matter  what  the  offense,  yet,  as 
a  matter  of  fact,  she  is  the  only  Church  in  all  the  world 
that  has  repeatedly  severed  the  bonds  of  matrimony." 

This  is  a  mistake  of  the  Christian  Advocate,  as  the 
Church  cannot  dissolve  a  marriage  once  validly  con- 
tracted. The  Pope  could  not,  even  had  he  so  desired, 


Misrepresentations  263 

have  dissolved  the  marriage  of  Henry  VIII.  and  Cath- 
erine. When  Pope  Pius  VII.  was  asked  by  Napoleon 
to  annul  the  marriage  of  Jerome  Bonaparte  and  Miss 
Patterson,  he  said :  "Your  Majesty  will  understand  that 
upon  the  information  thus  far  received  by  us,  it  is  not 
in  our  power  to  pronounce  a  sentence  of  nullity.  We 
cannot  utter  a  judgment  in  opposition  to  the  rules  of 
the  Church,  and  we  could  not,  without  laying  those 
rules  aside,  decree  the  invalidity  of  a  union  which  ac- 
cording to  the  Word  of  God,  no  human  power  can 
sunder." 

It  is  beyond  belief  that  in  any  civilized  country,  "near- 
ly fifty  per  cent,  of  the  children  are  born  out  of  wed- 
lock." According  to  the  statistician  Mulhall's  official 
tables  for  a  period  of  forty-six  years,  in  Germany,  there 
were  in  each  one  thousand  catholic  births,  fifty-eight 
illegitimates,  and  in  each  one  thousand  protestant  births, 
eighty-five  illegitimates.  According  to  the  same  au- 
thority, from  1865  to  1878— 

There  is  one  illegitimate  There  is  one  illegitimate 

in  every  in  every 

Catholic  Protestant 

countries.  countries. 

43.48  births    in Ireland     28.57  births  in Holland 

18.03  births     in Spain      ir.  cn  ,.    ,      .      (England 

,      19.50  births  in.       ?„,  , 
17.85  births  in Portugal  (and  Wales 

15.38  births  in Italy      11.75  births  in Norway 

14.08  births  in.  .  .  .Belgium  11.59  births  in .  .  .Germany 

14.08  births  in.  .  .Hungary      10.74  births  in Scotland 

13.36  births  in France       9.80  births  in Sweden 

7.69  births  in  ....  Bavaria  9       births  in ...  Denmark 

4.40  births  in Austria       6.99  births  in Saxony 


264  Misrepresentations 

Regarding  the  poor  showing  made  by  the  catholic 
countries  of  German  Austria  and  Bavaria,  it  is  but 
fair  to  state  that  owing  to  the  peculiarities  of  the  civil 
enactments  concerning  marriage,  the  applicant  for  a 
license  must  be  able  to  read  and  write,  and  possess  a 
certain  amount  of  skill  in  the  science  of  numbers,  to- 
gether with  a  specified  amount  of  property.  These 
unusual  requirements  frequently  prove  among  the  very 
poor  to  be  prohibitory  of  marriage.  These  catholics 
are,  in  the  interests  of  Christian  morality,  regularly 
married  by  their  priests,  but  as  they  have  no  license 
from  the  civil  authority,  their  children  appear  in  the 
tables  as  illegitimates. 

In  Italy,  many  good  catholics  married  by  their  priests 
refuse  to  comply  with  the  demand  for  a  civil  marriage 
by  the  minions  of  a  ^Robber  King,"  and  they  will  re- 
gard their  children's  bend  sinister  as  an  honor,  not  a 
disgrace.  The  struggle  between  the  Church  and  the 
pagan  government  of  France,  in  the  same  manner 
enables  protestants  to  make  a  better  showing  than 
would  otherwise  be  possible. 

These  tables,  with  their  explanations,  are  relied  upon 
to  disprove  the  charges  made  by  the  Christian  Advo- 
cate. There  is  no  ''fixed  price"  for  performing  the 
marriage  ceremony  among  us,  any  more  than  among 
protestants. 

When  little  artless  stories  are  heard  designed  to 
awaken  sympathy  for  the  catholic  poor  as  being  vic- 
timized by  a  rapacious  clergy,  let  no  one  waste  a  tear, 
or  pass  the  sad  tale  on,  for  there  are  no  people  on 


Misrepresentations  265 

earth  that  venerate  their  shepherds,  and  for  such  good 
reason,  as  the  humble  poor  of  the  catholic  flocks. 

The  Rev.  Charles  W.  Fraser,  a  Congregational  Mis- 
sionary to  Cuba,  endeavors  to  make  plain  how  catholics 
mismanage  affairs  at  a  distance  from  Boston.  2  "Where 
Roman  Catholicism  has  chiefly  undone  things  for  cen- 
turies, the  Protestant  missionary  has  a  difficult  work. 
We  first  went  to  mass,  not  to  court  favor  with  the 
people,  but  to  show  that  we  were  not  enemies  in  the 
camp.  Then  the  writer  called  on  the  parish  priest  to 
show  him  proper  courtesy  and  tell  him  our  purpose 
in  coming  to  this  town.  He  frankly  said  there  was  no 
religion  in  the  island;  money  and  vice  like  weeds 
choked  life  out  of  the  Church.  'The  same  people  who 
hear  me  will  hear  you,  and  I  think  it  would  be  better 
to  go  to  some  heathen  field  where  work  would  be  far 
easier.'  We  felt  that  we  must  take  Romanism  at  its 
best,  honor  and  recognize  her  in  the  points  where  we 
agree,  and  above  all,  desire  for  her  as  for  ourselves  a 
pure  ministry  and  sincere  worship. 

"One  can  hardly  criticize  severely  the  only  religion  a 
people  know  without  tears,  when  the  land  is  sown  with 
illegitimate  sons  of  priests,  where  women  declare  that 
though  dying,  they  would  not  confess  their  sins  to  such 
men,  yet  whose  devotion  to  the  Virgin  Mary  alone 
keeps  them  from  coming  to  us.  They  love  our  services 
and  have  real  sorrow  when  held  back  from  them  by 
fear  of  a  priest  whom  they  despise. 

"Truly  a  strange  paradox,  but  does  not  their  cate- 
chism say  that  the  priest  is  the  same  as  Jesus  Christ? 

2  "Congregational   Work,"   Vol.   viii,    No.    5,   May,    1904. 


266  Misrepresentations 

If  we  stormed  at  such  a  state  of  affairs,  we  would 
either  drive  them  from  all  religion  or  promote  slavish 
submission  to  a  creeping  paralysis  of  soul,  which  is 
doubtless  worse.  By  their  own  testimony  they  say 
'you  are  better  Christians  than  we.'  Hitherto  they  have 
been  taught  that  we  are  atheists,  but  now  we  are 
visited  by  those  who  dare  not  worship  with  us  and 
they  speak  to  us  of  things  they  never  say  to  the  priest. 
We  are  trying  to  show  them  that  if  there  is  no  room 
for  us  in  Romanism,  there  is  room  for  them  in 
Protestantism.  .  .  . 

"We  have  in  our  patio  a  Kumquot  Orange  tree,  load- 
ed with  golden  fruit.  It  is  the  talk  of  the  town.  We 
gave  our  friends  each  two  or  three  of  the  fruit.  The 
wife  of  the  Roman  Catholic  organist  called  on  a  friend 
to  beseech  me  to  give  her  a  few  of  them.  Quite  hu- 
morously I  said  on  giving  her  the  fruit,  'you  were 
afraid  to  ask  me  for  these  because  you  thought  the 
devil  was  in  my  house,'  a  quotation  of  the  priest  to 
frighten  children  from  our  Sunday-school.  She  was 
worried  and  confused  at  my  joke,  but  her  husband 
laughed  and  said,  'I  envy  you  your  godliness.  I  saw 
you  at  our  Church  and  your  features  never  moved 
while  our  priest  denounced  you  as  a  cursed  heretic, 
and  what  astonished  me  was  to  see  you  put  something 
in  our  collection  box  after  it.'  Strange  but  true  that 
humor  is  our  greatest  weapon  against  the  superstition 
that  surrounds  us.  A  missionary  without  a  little  wit 
and  humor  would  never  do  more  than  hasten  his  own 
miserable  failure. 

"Perhaps   we  are  vain,  yet  there  comes  a  vision   of 


Misrepresentations  267 

this  old  Church;  we  think  of  her  in  all  her  history; 
her  hymns  we  are  still  singing  in  all  our  Churches. 
Her  formalism  stands  as  a  perpetual  rebuke  and  warn- 
ing against  the  decline  of  spiritual  life;  yet  she  speaks 
the  finest  words  ever  given  to  men." 

This  humble  missionary,  so  full  of  regard  for  his 
neighbor's  honor,  begins  his  work  by  going  to  Mass! 
Catholics  consider  daily  attendance  at  Mass  highly 
beneficial  to  the  spiritual  life,  but  as  protestant  minis- 
ters do  not  believe  in  going  to  Mass,  lest  this  unusual 
occurrence  should  seem  to  denote  some  ulterior  motive, 
the  missionary  makes  haste,  before  he  is  accused,  to 
set  himself  right.  If  we  will  hear  him,  it  was  as  a 
friend,  not  an  enemy  in  the  camp,  that  he  approached 
the  heavenly  portals  to  hear  Mass.  In  imitation,  per- 
haps, of  One  who  sometime  wept  over  a  city  of  Pales- 
tine, this  good  man  too  weeps  as  he  contemplates  the 
necessity  of  becoming  a  hostile  critic  of  ''the  only 
religion  a  people  know." 

In  the  missionary's  country,  three  or  four  hundred 
religions  are  barely  sufficient  to  express  the  devotion 
of  the  people  to  the  Giver  of  all  good;  while  here  only 
that  one  old-fashioned  faith  has  been  taught  which 
enables  all  to  dwell  together  in  unity,  as  the  Scripture 
commands.  Here  after  centuries  of  teaching,  and 
practicing,  of  this  one  faith,  this  bearer  of  a  new 
message  has  come,  to  raise  doubts  in  the  minds  of  this 
simple  people  regarding  their  former  teachers,  and 
their  ancient  faith,  and,  incidentally,  of  course,  make  a 
living  for  himself  and  family  without  the  necessity  of 
doing  manual  labor. 


268  Misrepresentations 

The  missionary  will  seek  to  show  the  latest  thing  out 
in  Simon-pure  religion,  and  will  descant  long  and  loud 
regarding  the  blessings  attendant  upon  "The  Great 
Reformation,"  and  the  superiority  of  a  diversity  of 
religions  over  one  faith.  Should  he  succeed  in  unset- 
tling the  faith  of  many,  he  would  make  just  so  many 
busy,  perhaps  angry,  disputants  concerning  the  Bible's 
meaning;  until  faith,  never  too  strong,  will  be  seen 
diminishing  and  divorce  increasing  in  like  degree,  in 
that  catholic  land,  as  witnessed  here  in  this  protestant 
land,  where  marriage  is  being  debased,  until  it  has  be- 
come little  else  than  an  experiment,  which  may  be 
improved  upon  by  further  and  like  experiments  later  on. 

We  leave  this  pious  missionary  to  reconcile  his  con- 
science with  this  breach  of  charity,  in  publishing  to 
the  world  his  snap  judgment  against  the  priests  of  a 
country  which,  from  his  brief  stay  in  it,  he  could  have 
known  little  or  nothing  about,  and  w^hich  of  all 
known  subjects,  protestant  preachers  along  the  high- 
way of  their  lapses  in  moral  duty,  should  walk  with 
tender  feet. 

The  Reverend  Mr.  Bayne  in  speaking  on  confession, 
and  a  celibate  priesthood,  says :  3  "Rome  maintains 
auricular  confession  and  a  celibate  clergy.  This  is  a 
terrible  indictment  against  the  Papacy.  A  celibate 
clergy  and  the  confessional  are  incompatible  with 
healthy  and  happy  social  life.  Intelligent  men  will  not 
believe — none  but  simpletons  will  believe — that  where 
celibacy  of  clergy  and  auricular  confession  prevail,  do- 
mestic life  will  not  be  honeycombed  with  intrigue." 

3  "Life  of   Luther,"   Bayne,    p.    40. 


Misrepresentations  269 

This  is  a  strong  assertion,  which  gives  no  proof,  or 
reason,  why  it  should  be  true.  In  lieu  of  proof,  it 
would  have  looked  better  had  the  author  but  thought 
to  tell  where  this  honeycombed  condition  of  domestic 
life  among  catholics  exists.  Is  it  in  the  cities  or  in 
country  towns?  Anywhere  in  the  United  States  where 
we  can  obtain  facts  ?  No ;  but  hark !  A  voice  from  a 
distance ;  the  protestant  missionary  in  far  off  catholic 
lands,  he  "can  a  tale  unfold,"  and  the  distance  between 
the  location  where  the  alleged  infraction  of  the  moral 
code  will  be  said  to  have  taken  place,  and  the  home 
bureau  of  investigation  will  prove  sufficiently  great  to 
so  delay  the  report,  that  a  later  denial  would  find  the 
story  already  confirmed  and  the  incident  closed. 

The  Hierarchy  of  the  Catholic  Church  is  fully  alive 
regarding  the  reputation  of  her  priests,  and  is  ever 
watchful  of  their  conduct.  4  "A  Passionist  Father,  un- 
der the  auspices  of  the  Catholic  Truth  Society,  in  his 
endeavors  to  ascertain  what  if  any  truth  there  might 
be  in  the  protestant  stories  told  about  priests  in  South 
America,  had  a  very  lively  chase  in  his  endeavors  to 
run  them  to  earth.  ...  In  his  travels,  he  says  that 
he  went  'seven  times  around  the  Continent,  and  three 
times  across  it.  ...  They  could  not  be  verified  on 
the  seaboard.  He  had  been  referred  to  the  interior, 
names  and  places  being  given.  On  arriving  at  these 
places  he  had  been  advised  to  go  still  further  into  the 
interior.  He  had.  done  so  but  with  the  same  result. 
In  his  travels  he  had  never  been  able  to  verify  such 

4  San    Francisco   Monitor,    Vol.    xlvii,    No.    2. 


270  Misrepresentations 

stories  though  he  had  followed  them  to  their  ever- 
changing  scenes  toward  the  center  of  the  country/  ': 

The  catholic  laity  feel  sure  that  their  priests  will 
not  suffer  in  comparison  with  any  body  of  ethical  teach- 
ers that  the  "rival  churches"  can  produce.  We  do  not 
think  that  the  immoralities  of  protestant  ministers  as 
recorded  in  the  public  press,  have  their  origin  in  the 
teachings  of  protestantism,  and  we  have  no  desire  to 
shout  when  made  aware  of  their  downfall.  But,  when 
a  protestant  missionary  goes  to  a  catholic  country,  and 
before  he  has  time  to  hang  up  his  hat,  sits  down  and 
writes  to  the  society  that  sends  him,  "that  the  land  is 
sown  with  the  illegitimate  sons  of  priests,"  and  that 
society  publishes  the  lie  to  the  world;  then  if  in  former 
chapters  we  have  failed  to  prove  that  divided  protestant- 
ism is  not  that  Church  which  our  divine  Lord  estab- 
lished in  unity;  there  remains  no  further  need  of  proof 
other  than  this  failure  of  theirs  in  the  showing  of  even 
an  approach  towards  Christian  charity.  5  "God  is  char- 
ity: and  he  that  abideth  in  charity,  abideth  in  God,  and 
God  in  him." 

We  know  that  the  Catholic  Church  teaches  in  her 
pulpits,  her  confessionals,  and  her  catechisms,  the  same 
doctrines  everywhere ;  maintains  the  same  uncompro- 
mising attitude  towards  iniquity  in  high  places  as  in  low, 
in  any  and  all  countries,  as  in  this.  There  is  not  one 
Gospel  for  the  rich,  and  another  for  the  poor,  one 
Gospel  for  North  America,  and  another  for  South 
America  and  the  islands  of  the  sea.  We  know  that 
abundant  testimony  is  at  hand  from  protestants  who  live 

5  St.    John   I. 


Misrepresentations  271 

among  us,  that  our  reputation  for  honesty  and  right 
living  is  at  least  equal  to  their  own.  While  different 
peoples  doubtless  are  to  some  extent  influenced  by  their 
environment,  yet  it  is  irreconcilable  with  reason  and 
good  sense,  that  the  Church  that  teaches  all  nations  one 
and  the  same  faith  should,  in  our  own  country,  be  able 
to  show  the  fruits  of  a  pure  priesthood  and  people,  and 
in  distant  lands  only  a  priesthood  and  people  domi- 
nated by  vice. 

But  as  serious  as  the  offense  against  charity  by  our 
Congregational  brethren  is,  yet  it  is  but  journey  work 
in  comparison  with  the  cunningly  devised  fables  of  the 
disciples  of  John  Wesley.  6  A  report  of  the  Methodists 
on  the  condition  of  affairs  in  South  America:  "The 
Committee  invites  the  attention  of  the  Protestant 
Churches  of  Christendom  to  the  moral  condition  of  the 
clergy  of  South  America.  That  condition  as  revealed 
in  Rome  at  the  recent  council  of  Bishops  from  that 
country,  is  so  deplorable  that  every  pure  minded  person 
in  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  will  admit  that  it  is  fit 
to  make  the  Angels  weep.  At  this  council,  which  Leo 
XIII.  assembled  a  few  months  ago  in  Rome,  a  statisti- 
cal report  was  presented  on  the  moral  condition  of  the 
South  American  clergy.  According  to  it  there  are 
eighteen  thousand  Roman  priests,  of  whom  three  thou- 
sand are  regularly  married,  having  wives  and  legiti- 
mate children.  Four  thousand  live  in  secret  concu- 
binage, having  wives  under  the  names  of  nieces,  aunts, 
wards  or  housekeepers.  Then  fifteen  hundred  sustain 

6  New   York   Sun,   April,    1900. 


272  Misrepresentations 

more  or  less  public  relations  with  women  of  doubtful 
character  in  their  neighborhoods." 

These  charitable  and  delightfully  frank  statements  of 
our  Christian  brethren  as  usual  are  sustained  by  no 
word  of  proof,  and  for  that  reason  are  not  entitled  to 
notice;  yet  as  protestants  are,  generally,  willing  in  a 
case  where  the  Catholic  Church  is  the  subject  of  criti- 
cism, to  take  each  other's  bare  assertions  as  positive 
proof,  it  is  often  necessary  to  take  notice  of  that  which 
is  beneath  notice.  The  Church  has  usually  maintained 
silence  before  her  accusers,  in  imitation  of  her  divine 
Saviour  before  Herod.  As  though  wearied  with  a  one- 
sided controversy,  our  friends — in  intention — sometimes 
have  changed  front  and  praised  us.  They  have  praised 
us,  not  for  our  faith  and  devotion  so  much  as  for  our 
splendid  organization  and  child-like  obedience  to  rule. 
Some  of  the  brethren  have  made  favorable  mention  of 
our  uncompromising  hostility  to  divorce,  and  have  be- 
wailed their  inability  to  educate  their  people  up  to  a 
like  standard  of  morality.  They  have  taken  notice  too 
of  the  noble  deeds  of  Catholic  Sisterhoods  performed  in 
hospitals,  in  the  halls  of  learning,  and  among  the  poor ; 
and  have,  in  some  instances,  essayed  feeble  imitations 
of  them.  More  rarely  has  faint  praise  been  wrung 
from  them,  for  the  grand  old  man  of  the  Vatican,  Leo 
XIII. 

This  charitable  condition  of  mind  among  the  brethren, 
like  a  fair  warm  day  in  early  Spring,  .is  after  all  but 
the  harbinger  of  a  speedy  and  unwelcome  change.  As 
a  sunburst  in  some  quiet  valley  whose  surrounding 
heights  are  obscured  in  the  leaden  gloom  of  a  tempest 


Misrepresentations  273 

about  to  hurl  its  thunder  on  the  quiet  summer  air; 
so  here,  the  calm,  too  brief,  is  ended  in  the  coming  of 
this  awful  avalanche  from  South  America.  When  our 
friends,  who  live  by  method,  become  aware  that  the 
exigencies  of  their  case  require  the  employment  of 
desperate  remedies,  they  use  none  but  the  largest  fig- 
ures, and  make  statements  that  seem  at  variance  with 
the  usual  results  obtained  by  a  correct  method  in  the 
use  of  numbers. 

It  is  chiefly  the  van  of  an  avalanche,  that  is  the 
destroying  agent.  In  the  van  of  this  vast  immoral 
army,  are  "three  thousand  priests  who  are  regularly 
married,  having  wives  and  legitimate  children."  This 
vanguard  of  three  thousand  South  American  priests, 
are,  therefore — in  this  one  respect  only — not  one  whit 
better  than  the  three  thousand  Methodist  preachers 
who  are  married  and  have  legitimate  children.  In  fact, 
if,  according  to  Methodist  doctrine,  priestly  celibacy  is 
wrong,  a  married  priesthood  must  evidently  be  right. 
Are  the  Methodist  preachers  mentioned  to  be  classed  as 
immoral?  If  not,  why  should  the  conduct  of  these  three 
thousand  priests  cause  us  to  hang  our  heads  in  shame, 
or  make  the  Angels  weep  ?  What  makes  marriage  moral 
for  the  preacher  and  immoral  for  the  priest?  The  celi- 
bacy of  the  priesthood  is  a  matter  not  of  doctrine  but  of 
discipline  in  the  Catholic  Church,  and  there  are  married 
priests  outside  South  America.  It  follows  then,  that 
"The  Committee"  who  have  so  kindly  invited  the 
churches  of  protestant  Christendom  to  view  with  sor- 
row (?)  the  degradation  of  three  thousand  Catholic 
priests,  stand  convicted  of  grossly  slandering  them  as 


274  Misrepresentations 

well  as  all  married  priests  of  the  Catholic  Church,  who 
live  in  wedlock  as  the  majority  of  Methodist  preach- 
ers live. 

Passing  to  the  second  count  of  this  far  from  delecta- 
ble indictment,  we  find  that,  "four  thousand  live  in 
secret  concubinage  having  wives,"  etc.  This  charge 
may  be  dismissed  on  the  ground  of  an  entire  want  of 
anything  in  the  nature  of  proof,  and  the  impossibility 
of  understanding  whether  the  four  thousand  are  ac- 
cused of  having  concubines  or  wives.  Concerning  the 
fifteen  hundred,  the  charges  of  immorality  are  for  all 
we  know  as  true  as  those  already  mentioned.  Only 
two  years  before  this  alarming  condition  of  affairs  was 
revealed  to  the  Methodist  Church,  as  we  have  men- 
tioned, a  Catholic  priest  went  seven  times  around  the 
South  American  continent  and  three  times  across  it 
in  search  of  the  origin  of  this  class  of  stories  reflecting 
upon  the  morals  of  the  catholic  priesthood.  "The 
Father's  report  at  Rome  was  that  their  origin  could  be 
traced  to  protestants,  and  he  emphatically  branded  them 
as  'groundless  calumnies/  and  that  he  had  seen  the 
clergy  everywhere  except  in  Venezuela,  and  had  found 
them  'the  equal  of  the  clergy  of  England  or  Italy,  of 
Spain  or  North  America.'  " 

Are  those  of  the  "rival  churches"  so  obtuse  as  for 
a  moment  to  think  that  the  Church  which  has  taught 
the  necessity  of  a  clean  heart,  and  a  clean  life,  for 
nineteen  centuries;  that  has  frowned  upon  and  unceas- 
ingly denounced  immorality  among  princes  and  peas- 
ants alike,  can  so  far  forget  her  glorious  record  as  to 
allow  a  standing  army  of  eight  thousand  five  hundred 


Misrepresentations  275 

of  her  priests  in  one  country  alone  to  live  in  open  and 
notorious  sin?  Surely  "none  but  simpletons"  could 
believe  anything  so  improbable,  so  monstrous! 

Do  protestants  who  sometimes  praise  us  for  our 
obedience  to  authority,  imagine  that  the  Miter  has  lost 
its  power?  Such  is  the  order  and  discipline  in  the 
Church,  that  should  a  priest  disobey  his  bishop  he 
would  be  brought  to  an  accounting  immediately.  •  The 
authority  of  the  South  American  bishops,  to  depose 
from  office  this  formidable  array  of  evil  livers,  would 
be  both  ample  and  compulsory.  The  picture  presented 
of  the  South  American  Bishops  before  the  Pope,  each 
handing  in  his  statistical  report  anent  the  immoral  lives 
of  the  clergy  under  him,  thus  confessing  whose  negli- 
gence it  was  that  had  permitted  these  scandal  givers 
to  retain  their  positions  thereby  laying  themselves  open 
to  the  severest  censures  of  an  indignant  Pontiff,  is  a 
picture  so  malicious  in  conception,  so  clumsy  and  un- 
true in  likeness,  and  so  altogether  improbable,  as  to 
clearly  reveal  the  hand  of  the  protestant  falsifying  artist. 

The  climax  of  absurdity,  however,  is  reached  when 
we  are  expected  to  believe  that  after  receiving  this 
account  regarding  the  lives  of  his  clergy,  the  Pope— 
who  has  been  credited  with  some  skill  as  a  diplomat — 
should  have  turned  the  report  over  to  the  Methodist 
brethren !  If  it  were  not  a  fact  that  protestant  credulity 
is  without  limitations,  where  stories  are  told  reflecting 
upon  the  Church,  so  absurd  a  story  as  this  would  not 
be  believed  even  by  "simpletons." 

The  protestant  missionaries,  who  take  themselves  to 
Mexico,  and  other  countries,  for  the  purpose  of  con- 


276  Misrepresentations 

verting  Christians  who  are  accustomed  to  attend  Church 
every  day  of  their  lives,  to  the  belief  that  attendance 
at  divine  worship  once  a  week  is  quite  sufficient;  that 
instead  of  a  daily  or  weekly  reception  of  that  super- 
substantial  bread,  the  bread  of  life,  which  is  the  flesh 
and  blood  of  the  Son  of  God,  to  a  reception  perhaps 
once  in  three  months,  of  bread  and  wine,  or  grape 
juice,  as  a  bare  memorial  of  his  death:  to  convert 
Christians  from  believing  much,  to  believing  little,  and 
that  little  uncertain ;  to  reduce  religion  to  its  lowest 
terms,  and  sow  seeds  of  doubt  where  all  before  was 
certain,  may  seem  to  the  preachers  the  doing  of  a 
great  work,  but  from  the  viewpoint  of  the  more  intelli- 
gent among  the  people,  their  advent  is  as  much  dreaded 
as  would  be  the  coming  of  the  smallpox. 

7  "Whatever  may  be  done  for  the  peon  in  the  way  of 
cleanliness  and  education,  the  iconoclastic  improver 
should  stop  at  the  door  of  his  Church.  Of  all  the 
people  I  have  ever  seen  the  people  of  Mexico  wear 
their  religion  the  best.  It  fits  them  like  a  seamless 
garment.  In  the  dusky  silence  of  their  beautiful  cathe- 
drals, the  peons  are  equal  to  the  rich,  and  what  cares 
they  have  slip  from  them  like  the  burden  from  a  Chris- 
tian's back.  Here  at  least  the  peon  is  as  good  as  his 
master." 

That  the  preachers  who,  at  the  expense  of  the  mis- 
sionary boards,  live  in  luxury  in  foreign  countries,  prove 
quite  often  to  be  mischief  makers,  the  authors  of  mis- 
representation, contentions  and  strife;  is  attested  by 
many  eminent  writers  who  cannot  be  rightly  accused 

7  San    Francisco    Press. 


Misrepresentations  277 

of  undue  partiality  towards  us.  8  Charles  Dudley  War- 
ner says  that  "the  missionaries  in  Mexico  have  done 
nothing  but  sap  the  Christianity  of  many  whose  faith 
was  their  strength,  and  foment  ill  feeling  against  the 
American  people  in  general." 

If  the  missionaries,  who  are  so  bent  on  converting 
catholics,  were  really  anxious  to  save  souls,  they  could 
not  find  the  world  over  a  field  more  in  need  of  mis- 
sionaries than  that  nearest  their  own  doors.  This  field 
according  to  Governor  Rollins  of  New  Hampshire  is  in 
New  England,  more  especially  in  the  rural  districts  al- 
most exclusively  peopled  by  the  descendants  of  the 
Puritans.  In  a  "fast  day"  proclamation,  the  Governor 
says:  "The  decline  of  the  Christian  religion,  particu- 
larly in  our  rural  communities,  is  a  marked  feature 
of  the  times,  and  steps  should  be  taken  to  remedy  it. 
No  matter  what  our  belief  may  be  in  religious  matters, 
every  good  citizen  knows  that  when  the  restraining 
influences  of  religion  are  withdrawn  from  a  community, 
its  decay,  moral,  mental  and  financial  is  swift  and  sure. 
.  .  .  There  are  towns  where  no  church  bell  sends 
forth  its  solemn  call  from  January  to  January;  there 
are  villages  where  children  grow  to  manhood  unchris- 
tened ;  there  are  communities  where  the  dead  are  laid 
away  without  the  benison  of  the  name  of  Christ,  and 
where  marriages  are  solemnized  only  by  Justices  of  the 
Peace." 

This  then  is  the  religious  condition  of  rural  New 
England  where  protestantism  has  enjoyed  undisputed 
sway  since  the  "pilgrim  fathers"  from  their  storm  tossed 

8  Harper's  Mag.,   June,   1898. 


278  Misrepresentations 

barks  landed  on  her  wild  and  rock-bound  coasts.  In 
the  cities,  of  course  it  is  all  very  different  for  they  are 
largely  populated  by  catholics ;  and  catholics  go  to 
Church  even  if  they  "don't  feel  like  it,"  and  even  if  they 
"don't  like  the  minister." 

The  Rev.  President  of  Amherst  College  says  that  "the 
Church  is  no  longer  looked  upon  as  an  indispensable 
means  of  salvation."  Then  of  course  it  naturally  follows 
that,  as  people  can  get  to  heaven  without  the  aid  of 
the  Church,  the  people  in  rural  New  England  who 
have  closed  theirs  and  left  them  to  rot,  have  only  thrown 
away  a  useless  institution.  Those  who  have  read  Long- 
fellow's poem  Evangeline,  will  naturally  contrast  this 
picture  of  rural  New  England  life,  the  outgrowth  of 
protestantism,  with  the  life  in  a  somewhat  earlier  period 
of  a  rural  people  not  very  far  distant,  whose  lives  were 
the  embodiment  of  Christian  charity,  the  outcome  of 
catholic  teaching. 

Mr.  Rollin  Lynde  Hart,  in  the  Atlantic  Monthly, 
writing  of  a  New  England  hill-town,  says:  "Here 
you  may  mingle  with  as  wicked  a  throng  of  human 
creatures  as  ever  congregated  in  Whitechapel,  or  Belle- 
vue  or  Five  Points.  French  Canadians?  Foreigners 
of  any  breed  or  birth  whatever?  Not  they.  That  loath- 
some rabble  gathered  from  twenty  decadent  hill-towns 
are  they  not  every  soul  of  them  descended  from  the 
Puritans?  Their  pre-revolutionary  blood  is  as  good  as 
your  own.  When  the  ceremony  of  marriage  has  en- 
tirely disappeared  from  the  social  regimen  of  Cidersville 
— when  lovely  sweet  Auburn  is  cursed  with  moral  and 


Misrepresentations  279 

physical  abberations,  it  is  time  to  recognize  a  problem 
of  no  less  than  national  seriousness." 

The  San  Francisco  Monitor  asks :  "Will  the  American 
missionaries  enter  the  field,  or  must  the  harvest  await 
future  reapers  from  among  Filipino  and  Cuban  zealots, 
solicitors  for  the  salvation  of  benighted  descendants  of 
the  Puritans?" 

Lieut.  E.  O.  Raynor,  stationed  at  Calloocan  in  Phil- 
ippines writes :  "We  had  a  visit  from  one  of  the 
women  missionaries.  She  informed  me  that  they  were 
here  in  force,  and  intended  to  linger  until  every  germ 
of  sin  peculiar  to  this  archipelago  was  no  more.  Bless 
her  deluded  heart;  it  is  not  more  religion  that  these 
people  want;  they  have  far  too  much. 

"When  they  become  as  sinful  and  irreligious  as  we 
Americans,  then  we  may  hope  for  better  things  of 
them.  .  .  .  We  are  in  the  midst  of  Lenten  and 
Easter  festivities.  Tell  your  friends  who  are  in  the 
habit  of  celebrating  Easter  .  .  .  that  they  would 
not  make  a  side-show  to  the  Filipino  devotions.  No, 
indeed,  no  more  religion  for  these  people. 

"What  we  want  to  teach  them  is  commerce  as  it  is 
practiced  in  the  United  States — how  to  beat  your  fel- 
low man  in  trade.  No,  the  American  on  a  religious  task 
is  too  slow  for  these  people.  In  all  matters  of  business 
they  will  say  'manana,'  but  when  it  comes  to  going 
to  Church  they  simply  get  there  with  both  feet  before 
daylight." 

General  Leonard  Wood,  after  a  lengthy  stay  in  the 
Philippines  bears  testimony  to  the  noble  work  of  the 


280  Misrepresentations 

religious  orders,  as  follows :  9  "The  ease  with  which  we 
have  solved  the  Philippine  colonization  problem  was 
due  to  our  predecessors  there.  The  Spanish  had  so  done 
the  preliminary  work  that  it  should  not  be  difficult  for 
us  to  take  it  up  and  complete  it.  Indeed  Spain  did 
more  for  the  Filipinos  than  any  other  colonizing  nation 
has  ever  done  for  an  Oriental  people. 

"She  gave  them  her  religion,  and  language,  and  civil- 
ization. She  did  not  merely  scratch  the  surface.  She 
really  affected  and  influenced  the  lives  of  the  natives. 
Malays  they  are,  yet  they  are  like  no  other  Malays. 
In  place  of  pure  barbarism,  cannibalism,  and  idolatry, 
Spain  implanted  the  Roman  Catholic  religion,  which  is 
to-day  the  religion  of  nine-tenths  of  the  people. 

"Spain  also  elevated  the  status  of  the  Filipino  woman. 
In  other  Oriental  countries  the  woman  is  little  better 
than  a  slave.  In  the  Philippines  on  the  contrary,  the 
woman  is  the  'business  man'  of  the  house.  She  it  is 
who  really  manages  the  estate  or  household  and  it  is 
almost  more  important  that  we  get  her  good  will  and 
friendship  than  the  man's. 

"The  work  done  by  the  Roman  Catholic  friars  in  the 
three  centuries  Spain  held  the  Islands  was  wonderful, 
and  can  not  fail  to  excite  our  admiration.  And  in  spite 
of  her  many  troubles  there  Spain  was  continuing  the 
work  of  Christianizing  the  Islands  when  our  war  came 
on." 

It  is  a  pleasant  surprise  that,  amidst  all  this  excoria- 
tion of  the  poor  friars,  we  hear  the  real  truth  at  last; 
and  that,  from  one  whose  high  government  position 

9  Boston    Transcript. 


Misrepresentations  281 

enabled  him  to  know  all  there  was  to  know,  and  who, 
being  outside  the  narrow  boundaries  of  a  sect,  was 
willing  to  tell  what  he  knew  as  he  knew  it. 

The  Government  Consular  Report  says :  "The  Span- 
ish priests,  with  scarcely  an  exception,  do  their  duties 
faithfully  and  devotedly.  Priests  of  native  extraction 
do  not  quite  come  up  to  the  high  standard  of  Spanish 
confratres."  The  United  States  Minister  to  Siam,  Mr. 
John  Barret,  anent  the  much  abused  religious  orders 
says :  "Numbering  nearly  three  thousand,  they  include 
many  men  of  great  ability,  noble  character  and  wide 
knowledge.  The  majority  are  faithful  to  their  vows,  and 
the  few  who  backslide  are  of  mixed  blood  or  natives." 

Why  protestants  should  feel  called  upon  to  essay  the 
conversion  of  those  whose  faith  is  from  the  beginning, 
to  the  faith  that  is  new  and  untried;  whose  faith  is  in 
unity  to  those  whose  faith  is  in  diversity;  from  the 
Church  founded  by  the  divine  Son  of  God,  to  a  church 
founded  by  man;  from  a  sure  and  certain  faith,  to  a 
set  of  opinions  of  kaleidoscope  changeableness, — will 
ever  remain  a  wonder  to  us.  While  our  friends  seek  the 
conversion  of  Christians  in  distant  lands,  they  would 
do  well  to  remember,  that  "they  have  run  without  being 
sent,"  their  so-called  "churches"  being  subject  to  the 
limitations  of  youth,  are,  in  consequence,  not  con- 
cerned with  the  divine  command  to  "go  teach  all  na- 
tions," given  centuries  before  their  birth.  As  our  dis- 
senting brethren,  the  Protestant  Ministers,  are  very  fond 
of  Scripture  quotations  used  to  prop  their  tottering 
edifice,  we  recommend  to  them  the  two  following  pas- 
sages of  Holy  Bible  bearing  on  the  subject  at  issue, 
12 


282  Misrepresentations 

the  necessity  of  a  divine  mission  for  Gospel  preaching — 
"Thus  saith  the  Lord  of  hosts :  I  did  not  send  prophets, 
yet  they  ran:  I  have  not  spoken  to  them,  yet  they 
prophesied"  (Jerem.  xxiii,  vv.  15,  21). 

"Whosoever  shall  call"  upon  the  name  of  the  Lord, 
shall  be  saved.  How  then  shall  they  call  on  Him,  in 
whom  they  have  not  believed?  Or  how  shall  they  be- 
lieve Him,  of  whom  they  have  not  heard?  And  how 
shall  they  hear  without  a  preacher?  And  how  shall 
they  preach  unless  they  be  sent?  (Rom.  x.  13,  14). 

So  in  their  desire  to  do  a  great,  a  conspicuous  work 
abroad,  they  leave  those  at  home  who  through  many 
diversities  of  thought  and  variety  of  conjectures  have, 
under  a  guidance  confused  and  uncertain,  become  creed- 
less,  and  faithless,  ever  ready  to  fall  victims  to  strange 
hallucinations,  the  prey  of  the  swarms  of  religious  (?) 
mountebanks,  and  tramps,  that  live  upon  the  credulous 
and  gullible.  Such  are  the  descendants  of  those  who 
left  us  because  they  disbelieved  a  few  doctrines,  and  are 
now  making  a  finish,  by  disbelieving  them  all.  And 
because  the  greater  number  of  mankind  must  believe 
something,  they  are,  in  the  place  of  truth,  accepting 
vagaries  foolish  enough  to  move  a  schoolboy  to  de- 
rision. 

If  the  Christians  in  the  Philippines  mentioned  in  the 
soldier's  letter,  for  whose  conversion  our  friends  are 
so  desirous,  are  in  some  degree  less  ambitious  than 
we  in  business — as  people  in  warm  climates  naturally 
are, — yet  they  are  quite  the  reverse  when  engaged  in  the 
principal  business  of  life,  the  care  of  the  soul,  that 
being  declared  in  the  Scriptures  as  of  incalculably 


Misrepresentations  283 

greater  importance  than  care  for  the  body,  "what  we 
shall  eat,  and  what  we  shall  drink,  and  wherewithal 
shall  we  be  clothed." 

The  people  of  this  country  well  aware  that  they  are 
intelligent,  bright,  inventive,  progressive,  and  an  all- 
round  go-ahead  nation,  are  not  taking  any  great  amount 
of  care  to  conceal  the  fact;  but  they  can  hardly  make 
good  the  claim  of  being  so  eminently  a  religious  people, 
as  to  entitle  them  to  be  considered  the  rightful  enlight- 
eners  and  evangelizers  of  the  world. 

Our  friends  of  the  "rival  churches,"  spend  much  time 
in  arranging  long  columns  of  figures  which  are  relied 
upon  to  demonstrate  the  superiority  of  protestant,  over 
catholic  countries,  in  the  specialties  of  wordly  prosperity 
and  material  wealth.  While  it  is  generally  conceeded 
that  statistics  are  often  misleading  and  that  figures 
under  adroit  manipulation  may  be  made  to  lie,  yet  it 
would  seem  reasonable  that  where  the  whole  mind, 
heart,  soul,  and  strength,  are  given  to  the  acquirement 
of  wealth,  a  large  measure  of  success  might  be  looked 
for  in  that  particular,  and  we  cheerfully  admit  that  our 
protestant  brethren  are  richer  than  we.  But  as  it  is 
nowhere  written  that  wordly  prosperity  is  a  distinguish- 
ing mark  of  the  true  Church,  and  as  according  to  the 
Gospel  "it  is  easier  for  a  camel  to  pass  through  the  eye 
of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven,"  then  the  statistics  seem  to  prove  rather 
the  reverse  of  what  was  intended. 

Catholics  in  all  countries  are  taught  from  pulpit  and 
confessional  to  remember  that  in  the  toil  and  rush  of 
wordly  strife;  riches  and  honors  are  not  the  only  things 


284  Misrepresentations 

worth  seeking,  and  that  great  moderation  should  be 
practiced  in  the  pursuit  of  them.  And  so,  the  better  to 
restrain  us  from  these  excesses,  we  find  in  the  Catholic 
Church,  a  thousand  ingenious  and  attractive  devices,  in 
her  many  sodalities  and  confraternities,  for  restraining 
the  restless,  turning  back  the  wanderers,  leading  along 
the  narrow  way  the  lame  and  the  blind,  confirming  the 
faith  of  the  timid  and  hesitating,  and  gently,  and  per- 
severingly  urging  all  to  go  forward  in  the  sweet  ways 
of  Divine  love :  10  "higher  than  the  plains  and  above 
their  dust,  yet  not  so  high  as  to  be  beyond  the  region 
of  sweet  flowers  and  shady  trees,  and  the  coolness  of 
bubbling  springs." 

Thus  in  the  Philippines,  in  Cuba,  in  Mexico,  in  all 
catholic  countries,  may  be  found  large  numbers  who 
give  the  tranquil  hours  of  early  morning,  before  the  all 
engrossing  cares  of  busy  life  take  full  possession  of  the 
mind,  to  the  accumulation  of  those  heavenly  treasures 
mentioned  in  the  Gospel,  and  incidentally  take  advantage 
of  the  pious  protestant  missionaries  who  have  come  so 
far  to  convert  them  from  error,  and  who  are  now  in 
bed  sleeping  away  the  golden  hours  of  the  day,  and  of 
their  opportunity.  It  is  a  sad  surprise  to  us  that  the 
"rival  churches"  should  look  upon  this  principle  of 
action  with  such  disfavor,  and  reproach  us  for  our  early 
habits  of  devotion,  and  ultra  diligence  in  Church  attend- 
ance. 

Be  not  displeased  brothers,  it  is  not  to  gain  an  unfair 
advantage  that  we  do  thus,  but,  that  we  may  enjoy 
the  untold  blessings  conveyed  to  us  by  the  great  Sac- 

10  Father    Faber. 


Misrepresentations  285 

rifice  foretold  by  the  prophet  Malachias,  when  he  said: 
"From  the  rising  of  the  sun  even  to  the  going  down 
.  in  every  place  there  is  sacrifice  and  there  is 
offered  to  my  name  a  clean  oblation"  (ch.  i,  v.  ii). 

The  foreign  correspondents  of  the  public  press,  and 
the  writers  of  magazine  articles  will  descant  at  length 
upon  the  valuable  time  spent  in  celebrating  holy  days 
that  could  be  better  used,  for  a  thousand  needful  pur- 
poses, in  the  care  of  the  sick,  "building  of  alms-houses, 
work  for  the  prevention  of  child  labor  and  civic  cor- 
ruption, etc."  Humor  is  an  indispensable  adjunct,  when 
combating  superstition,  is  the  opinion  of  the  missionary 
to  Cuba.  This  brings  to  mind  the  fact  that  many  years 
since,  a  large  and  flourishing  publishing  house  in  New 
York  became  possessed  with  the  hallucination  that  its 
mission  on  earth  was  to  destroy  the  Catholic  Church, 
and  this  it  sought  to  accomplish  by  the  aid  of  the 
humorous  cartoons  of  Mr.  Thomas  Nast.  Before  the 
Church  became  fully  aware  of  the  destiny  which  had 
been  so  kindly  marked  out  for  her,  the  publishing  house 
ended  in  bankruptcy  and  Mr.  Nast  was  called  by  death 
to  his  accounts. 

We  have  shown  that  our  protestant  friends  are  to  a 
much  greater  extent  dominated  by  the  spirit  of  world- 
liness,  than  the  catholics  of  the  Philippines,  Cuba,  and 
Mexico,  and  that  while  they  profess  numerous  beliefs, 
on  the  contrary,  the  inhabitants  of  these  several  coun- 
tries all  agree  in  the  profession  of  one  faith.  This  one 
faith  is  as  much  superior  to  the  rival  faiths,  as  it  is 
older;  or  as  the  brightness  of  noon-day,  is  warmer 
than  the  darkness  of  night.  The  difference  between 


286  Misrepresentations 

what  this  one  faith  has  done  for  the  people  of  the 
countries  named,  who  are  sprung  from  an  inferior 
stock;  and  what  protestant  opinions  have  done  for  the 
descendants  of  the  Puritans,  who  were  of  a  superior 
stock,  can  be  easily  seen  by  contrasting  the  letter  of 
Lieut.  E.  O.  Raynor  of  Manila,  with  the  statement  of 
Governor  Rollins,  and  others  before  quoted. 

The  people  whom  the  missionary  societies  propose  to 
convert,  in  these  countries,  are  already  practical  Chris- 
tians possessing  the  finest  and  largest  of  stone  Churches 
which  are  well-filled  with  devout  worshipers,  even 
before  daylight;  while  the  wooden  meeting  houses  of 
rural  New  England  about  the  size  of  the  little  red 
schoolhouse,  are  closed  and  rotting  on  their  foundations ; 
their  erstwhile  congregations  having  drifted  into  rank 
infidelity,  in  Spiritism,  Christian  Science,  Theosophy, 
and  numberless  other  delusions. 

The  tide  of  needed  missionary  work  has  for  a  long 
time  been  strongly  setting  towards,  not  from,  the  cap- 
itals of  protestantism.  Why  then  should  not  the  prot- 
estant missionaries,  recognizing  their  rightful  field  of 
labor,  remain  at  home  and  endeavor  to  pull  out  of  the 
mire  their  own  people? 

In  foreign  countries  our  missionary  friends  are  not 
understood,  and  their  good  qualities  unappreciated ; 
while  at  home  they  might,  without  such  disadvantages 
shine  with  their  customary  brilliancy,  and  the  work 
would  be  found  comparatively  easy. 


CHAPTER  XV. 
HISTORY  SINCE  THE  ADVENT  OF  PROTESTANTISM. 

Allusion  has  been  made  in  previous  pages  to  the 
insidious  arts  of  our  adversaries,  the  sages  of  History, 
who,  from  the  venerable  seats  of  learning,  hand  down 
to  the  inquirer  after  truth  a  so-called  history  designed 
to  place  protestantism  in  the  most  favorable  light;  the 
center  piece,  as  it  were,  of  an  attractive  picture  which, 
from  its  contrast  with  a  background  of  catholic  domi- 
nation over  men's  minds  and  wills,  may  be  likened  to  a 
glorious  sunburst  after  stormy  weather. 

It  is  noticeable,  that,  in  these  histories,  the  pontiffs 
and  prelates  of  the  Catholic  Hierarchy  were,  when  not 
fools,  always  cunning,  unscrupulous,  arrogant  and  im- 
moral; while  in  contrast  the  "reformers,"  were  the  per- 
sonification of  meekness,  charity,  longsuffering,  and 
chastity,  and  were  possessed  of  all  the  real  learning  and 
piety  which,  at  that  time  the  world  could  boast  of.  They 
were  the  great  advocates  if  not  discoverers,  of  civil  and 
religious  liberty;  they  perfected,  where  they  did  not 
originate,  the  languages  of  the  several  countries  blest 
by  their  presence. 

In  the  pages  of  these  great  historical  lights,  the 
praises  of  our  Lord,  and  his  apostles,  have  been  well- 
nigh  forgotten  in  paeans  of  triumph  for  the  reformers. 
The  world,  itself,  could  scarcely  contain  the  flood  of 
light  that  poured  in  upon  it  at  "The  Great  Reformation." 


288    History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

In  Lord's  "Beacon  Lights  of  History,"  we  find  that 
Wycliffe's  Version  of  the  Bible  1  "besides  its  transcend- 
ent value  to  the  people,  now  able  to  read  the  Bible  in 
their  own  language — before  a  sealed  book  except  to  the 
clergy  and  the  learned — gave  form  and  richness  to  the 
English  language."  The  idea  which  Doctor  Lord  desires 
to  accentuate  is  contained  in  the  parenthesis  "before  a 
sealed  book."  If  the  Bible  has  in  the  past  been  a 
sealed  book  to  the  common  people,  the  fact  that  the 
common  people  could  not  read,  and  Bibles  could  not 
be  had,  would  seem  a  sufficient  explanation  of  the  whole 
matter. 

Upon  the  following  page  Doctor  Lord  says:  "At  a 
convocation  of  bishops  held  in  St.  Paul's  in  1408,  it  was 
decreed  as  heresy  to  read  the  Bible  in  English — to  be 
punished  by  excommunication."  The  decree,  to  which 
Doctor  Lord  calls  attention,  reads  as  follows :  "It  is 
dangerous,  as  Jerome  declares,  to  translate  the  text  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  out  of  one  idiom  into  another  since 
it  is  not  easy  in  translations  to  preserve  exactly  the 
same  meaning  in  all  things.  We,  therefore,  command 
and  ordain  that  henceforth  no  one  translate  the  text 
of  Holy  Scripture  into  English  for  general  use" 
"until  such  transaction  shall  have  been  approved  and 
allowed  by  the  diocesan  of  the  place  or  by  the  Provin- 
cial Council."  Sir  Thomas  More,  in  further  explanation 
says:  "The  Council  of  Oxford  neither  forbiddeth  the 
translations  to  be  read  that  were  already  well  done  of 
old  before  Wycliffe's  time  nor  damneth  his  because  it 
was  new,  but  because  it  was  naught;  nor  prohibiteth 

i  "Beacon  Lights,"   Vol.   ii,   p.   453. 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism    289 

new  to  be  made  but  provideth  that  they  shall  not  be 
read  if  they  be  made  amiss,  till  they  be  by  good  ex- 
amination amended."  He  further  says :  "As  for  old 
translations  before  Wyckliffe's  time,  they  remain  lawful 
and  be  in  some  folkes  hands.  Myself  have  seen  and 
can  show  you  Bybles,  fair  and  olde  in  English  which 
have  been  known  and  seen  by  the  Byshoppe  of  the 
Diocese  and  left  in  layman's  hands  and  womenes." 

Notwithstanding  this  testimony,  of  one  living  at  the 
time,  the  Encyclopaedia  Britannica,  has  the  boldness  to 
state  that  2  "vernacular  versions  .  .  .  were  pub- 
lished by  catholics — as  the  antidote  to  Protestant  Bibles/' 
This  is  surprising  after  reading  the  previous  page  which 
says :  3  "The  use — after  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire 
— of  the  Bible  was  shifted  from  the  sphere  of  public 
worship  to  that  of  private  edification  and  instruction ; 
and  for  the  latter  purpose  the  necessities  of  a  bar- 
barous age  seemed  to  demand  explanatory  paraphrases, 
Bible  narratives  in  meter,  and  the  like,  rather  than 
literal  renderings  of  the  whole  Scriptures.  Thus  in  the 
Anglo-Saxon  Church,  Caedmon's  poetical  version  of  the 
Bible  history  dates  from  664  A.  D.,  while  the  earliest 
prose  translations  of  parts  of  the  Latin  Bible  (gospels, 
psalms,  etc.)  do  not  seem  to  be  older  than  the  eighth 
century.  In  Germany,  in  like  manner,  metrical  versions 
of  the  gospels  are  among  the  earliest  attempts  to  convey 
the  Bible  to  the  people.  ...  A  complete  and  literal 
translation  of  the  Vulgate  existed  in  Germany  perhaps 
as  early  as  the  beginning  of  the  fourteenth  century." 

2  Vol.    iii,    p.    648. 

3  Ibid.,    p.    647. 


290   History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

How  does  this  last  tally  with  the  discovery  of  the 
Bible,  by  Luther,  in  the  sixteenth  century? 

In  a  moment  of  forgetfulness  this  writer  of  history 
has  given  the  Catholic  Church  a  scant  measure  of  praise 
by  briefly  describing  how  the  Bible  was  "conveyed  to 
the  people"  in  the  ages  before  the  invention  of  printing 
had,  with  its  attendant  diffusion  of  learning,  enabled 
the  people,  generally,  to  study  the  Word  of  God. 

It  is  not  easy  to  see  how  the  Church  could  have 
done  more  to  familiarize  an  illiterate  people  with  the 
great  truths  of  the  Bible,  than  was  done  by  her  in  the 
ages  past.  She  took  care  to  preserve  and  multiply 
copies  of  the  same  by  the  almost  endless  labor  of  the 
pen.  She  instructed  the  ignorant  by  means  of  Bible 
stories,  poems,  paintings,  and  by  enacting  upon  the 
stage  the  principal  scenes  in  our  divine  Lord's  life 
which  were  incidental  to  his  ministry  among  men. 
Immediately  after  the  invention  of  printing,  she  is  found 
using  the  new  art  in  publishing  the  Bible;  indeed,  one 
of  the  first  books  printed  was  the  Catholic  Bible. 

We  are  sorry  that  with  all  this  to  our  credit,  our 
friends  of  many  beliefs  are  still  not  pleased  with  us. 
The  Catholic  Church  stands  alone  on  earth  to-day  the 
defender  of  the  whole  Bible.  But,  and  here  is  where 
our  friends  take  leave  of  us, — she  never  puts  the  Scrip- 
tures into  the  hands  of  the  people,  be  they  learned,  or 
be  they  ignorant,  directing  them  to  find  out  the  true 
faith  from  it  alone  and  unaided ;  but  ever  throws  around 
it  such  safeguards,  in  the  way  of  explanatory  readings, 
that  will — with  the  aid  of  the  Living  Voice  that  taught 
all  nations  the  way  of  salvation  before  the  Bible  was 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism    291 

known  to  them, — make  plain  and  sure  to  all,  the  ways 
of  God  to  men. 

The  Encyclopaedia  Britannica's  historian  continues : 
4  "The  work  of  translation  assumed  important  dimen- 
sions mainly  in  connection  with  the  spirit  of  revolt 
against  the  Church  of  Rome  which  rose  in  the  twelfth 
and  thirteenth  centuries.  The  study  of  the  Bible  in  the 
vulgar  tongue  was  a  characteristic  of  the  Cathari  and 
Waldenses,  and  the  whole  weight  of  the  Church's 
authority  turned  against  the  use  of  the  Scriptures  by  the 
laity." 

In  order  to  avoid  all  misconception  it  should  be  kept 
in  mind  that  the  Bible,  here  so  innocently  mentioned, 
was  a  protestant  translation  designed  to  be  used  in 
smiting,  hip  and  thigh,  the  "Scarlet  Woman."  It  was 
this  alleged  Bible  that  was  studied  with  so  much  enthus- 
iasm by  the  Cathari,  Waldenses,  and  the  Lollards,  and 
which  the  Catholic  laity  were,  very  properly,  forbidden 
to  read. 

The  protestant  authority  Doctor  Hook,  says :  5  "It 
was  not  from  hostility  to  a  translated  Bible  considered 
abstractly  that  the  conduct  of  Wycliffe  in  translating 
it  was  condemned.  Long  before  his  time  there  had 
been  translations  of  Holy  Writ.  There  is  no  reason  to 
suppose  that  any  objection  would  have  been  offered  to 
the  circulation  of  the  Bible  if  the  object  of  the  trans- 
lator had  only  been  the  edification  and  sanctification  of 
the  people.  It  was  not  till  the  designs  of  the  Lollards 
were  discovered  that  Wycliffe's  version  was  proscribed." 

4  Vol.    iii,    p.    647. 

5  "Lives   of   the  Archbishops   of   Canterbury,"    Vol.    iii,    p.    83. 


292    History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

It  is  surprising  that,  in  this  age  of  enlightenment,  our 
friends  should  still  continue  to  think  that  the  Church, 
because  she  refused  to  allow  her  children  to  read  a  cor- 
rupt and  partisan  version  made  by  her  enemies,  was 
therefore  opposed  to  the  reading,  and  study,  of  the 
Bible  by  the  laity. 

6  "The  sympathies  of  a  Protestant,"  says  Macaulay, 
"it  is  true,  will  naturally  be  on  the  side  of  the  Albi- 
gensians  and  of  the  Lollards.  Yet  an  enlightened  and 
temperate  Protestant  will  perhaps  be  disposed  to  doubt 
whether  the  success,  either  of  the  Albigences  or  of 
the  Lollards,  would  on  the  whole,  have  promoted  the 
happiness  of  mankind.  Corrupt  as  the  Church  of  Rome 
was,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that,  if  that  Church  had 
been  overthrown  in  the  twelfth  or  even  in  the  fourteenth 
century,  the  vacant  space  would  have  been  occupied  by 
some  system  more  corrupt  still.  There  was  then, 
through  the  greater  part  of  Europe,  very  little  knowl- 
edge ;  and  that  little  was  confined  to  the  clergy.  Not 
one  man  in  five  hundred  could  have  spelled  his  way 
through  a  psalm.  Books  were  few  and  costly.  The 
art  of  printing  was  unknown.  Copies  of  the  Bible, 
inferior  in  beauty  and  clearness  to  those  which  every 
cottager  may  now  command,  sold  for  prices  which  many 
priests  could  not  afford  to  give.  It  was  obviously  im- 
possible that  the  laity  should  search  the  Scriptures  for 
themselves.  It  is  probable  therefore,  that,  as  soon  as 
they  had  put  off  one  spiritual  yoke,  they  would  have 
put  on  another,  and  that  the  power  lately  exercised  by 
the  clergy  of  the  Church  of  Rome  would  have  passed 

6  "History   of  Eng.,"   Vol.    i,    p.    51. 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism    293 

to  a  far  worse  class  of  teachers."  This  "far  worse  class 
of  teachers"  were  the  fanatical  Lollards,  and  in  other 
countries  the  Cathari,  Albigences,  Waldenses,  and  others, 
whose  teachings  professedly  innocent  were,  none  the  less, 
subversive  of  all  law  and  order. 

Wycliffe,  like  his  illustrious  follower  Luther,  had  the 
gift  of  using  "strong  smiting  phrases;"  both  were  suc- 
cessful in  inciting  an  ignorant  peasantry  to  acts  of  sedi- 
tion and  murder;  both  under  the  sting  of  disappointed 
ambition  inaugurated  a  warfare  against  the  pontiff  they 
had  promised  to  obey  and  did  obey  till  their  anticipated 
preferment  failed  of  confirmation  at  his  hands.  Wycliffe 
lost  the  Wardenship  of  Canterbury  Hall  at  Oxford;  he 
appealed  from  the  archbishop,  to  Pope  Urban  V,  who 
sustained  the  former  authority.  Very  soon  afterward 
Wycliffe  discovered  that  the  Pope  was  anti-Christ,  by 
being  anti- Wycliffe. 

Wycliffe,  by  the  testimony  of  Sir.  Thomas  More  and 
others,  in  no  sense  gave  the  Bible  to  the  people.  The 
International  Encyclopaedia,  while  making  the  usual 
misstatement  that  7  "no  systematic  attempt  had  been 
made  to  translate  the  whole  Bible  into  English  before 
Wycliffe's  time,"  yet  admits  that  "it  is  not  probable  that 
he  did  more  than  a  fragment  of  the  work  himself." 
That  is,  Wycliffe's  Bible  was  largely  the  work  of  some 
other  person.  Fox, — of  the  Book  of  Martyrs  fame — in 
his  dedication  to  Archbishop  Parker  of  his  edition  of  the 
Saxon  Gospels  says :  "If  histories  be  well  examined 
we  shall  find,  both  before  John  Wycliffe  was  born  as 
since,  the  whole  body  of  the  Scriptures  was  by  sundry 

7  Vol.    xvii,    p.    713. 


294   History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

men  translated  into  our  country's  tongue."  Cranmer 
also  adds  his  testimony  corroborative  of  the  same  fact: 
8  "If  the  matter  should  be  tried  by  custome,  wee  might 
also  alledge  custome  for  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures 
in  the  vulgar  tongue,  and  prescribe  the  more  ancient 
custome.  For  it  is  not  much  more  above  one  hundred 
years  ago  since  Scripture  hath  not  been  accustomed  to 
be  read  in  the  vulgar  tongue  within  this  realme,  and 
many  hundred  yeares  before  that,  it  was  translated  and 
read  in  the  Saxon's  tongue,  which,  at  that  tyme,  was 
our  mother  tongue  .  .  .  and  when  this  language 
waxed  olde  and  out  of  common,  because  folke  should 
not  lacke  the  fruit  of  reading,  it  was  again  translated 
into  the  newer  language  whereof  yet  also  many  copies 
remayne  and  be  dayly  founde." 

The  Rev.  E.  Cutts,  a  protestant  writer,  in  a  work 
published  by  the  Society  for  Promoting  Christian  Knowl- 
edge in  England  says :  "There  is  a  good  deal  of  popular 
misapprehension  about  the  way  in  which  the  Bible  was 
regarded  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Some  think  that  it  was 
very  little  read  even  by  the  clergy;  whereas  the  fact  is 
that  the  sermons  of  the  mediaeval  preachers  are  more 
full  of  Scriptural  quotations  and  allusions  than  sermons 
in  these  days,  showing  that  their  minds  were  saturated 
with  Scripture  diction.  Another  common  error  is,  that 
the  clergy  were  unwilling  that  the  laity  should  read  the 
Bible  for  themselves,  and  carefully  kept  it  in  an  unknown 
tongue  that  the  people  might  not  be  able  to  read  it." 

The  fact  that  the  Bible  in  England  was  always  known, 
preached,  taught,  and  read  by  all  that  could  read,  is 

8  Prologue    to    second    edition    of    Bible. 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism    295 

by  these  ancient  and  modern  excerpts  from  protestant 
writings  fully  established.  It  is  to  be  hoped  that  our 
brethren  will  recognize  the  manifest  impropriety  of  con- 
tinuing these  misrepresentations  regarding  the  with- 
holding of  the  Bible  from  the  people.  There  was  not  a 
particle  of  truth  in  these  stories  in  the  beginning,  there 
is  none  now. 

As  Wycliffe  in  no  true  sense  gave  the  people  the 
Bible,  what  then  has  he  done  to  deserve  such  extrav- 
agant praise  ?  The  answer  is  short  and  easy  to  find.  He 
fought  the  Pope!  Because  that  supreme  authority  had 
decided  against  him,  from  that  time  he  was  a  dangerous 
man.  A  man  with  a  grievance. 

It  was  not  so  much  a  disbelief  in  Catholic  doctrine 
that  was  the  primal  cause  of  the  defection  of  Wycliffe, 
Luther  and  Henry  VIII,  as  it  was  the  defeat  of  cher- 
ished aspirations,  the  denial  of  their  claims  for  advance- 
ment by  the  Pope.  It  was  the  visible  head  of  the 
Church  instead  of  its  body  of  doctrine  that  was  attacked, 
because  it  was  the  head  that  had  offended.  If  the  Pope 
had  decided  for,  rather  than  against,  Wycliffe  in  his 
contention  with  Archbishop  Islip,  we  should  not  have 
witnessed  the  rising  of  the  "Morning  Star." 

If  Luther  had  been  chosen  to  preach  the  Pope's  in- 
dulgence, we  should  quite  likely  have  heard  from  him 
nothing  but  praise  of  the  doctrine. 

If  the  Pope  had  fallen  down  before  Henry  VIII., 
as  Luther  prostrated  himself  before  the  Landgrave  of 
Hesse  and  gave,  as  Luther  did,  his  dispensation  in 
favor  of  immorality  in  exchange  for  a  prince's  favor; 
England  might  not  have  been  forced  into  a  revolt  against 


296    History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

catholic  authority.  Yet  our  friends  still  continue  to 
charge  us  with  a  partiality  for  doing  evil  that  good  may 
come. 

Wycliffe,  while  enjoying  till  death  a  fat  living  in  the 
Catholic  Church,  inveighed  against  all  Church  digni- 
taries likewise  happily  situated.  He  had  sufficient  ex- 
ecutive ability  to  keep  those  around  him  busily  occupied, 
while  doing  very  little  himself.  He  sent  out  his  "Poor 
Clares"  to  beg  their  way  as  they  preached  "the  pure 
Gospel"  according  to  Wycliffe,  while  he  tarried  behind 
where  the  temporal  blessings  were  sure  and  unfailing. 

According  to  Lingard :  "In  common  with  other  relig- 
ious innovators,  he  claimed  the  two-fold  privilege  of 
changing  his  opinions  at  will  and  of  being  infallible  in 
every  change ;  and  when  he  found  it  expedient  to  dis- 
semble, could  so  qualify  its  doctrines  with  conditions 
or  explain  them  away  by  distinctions  as  to  give  an 
appearance  of  innocence  to  tenets  of  the  most  mis- 
chievous tendency." 

Returning  to  the  History  of  England,  by  Macaulay, 
it  is  noticeable  that,  when  drawing  a  pen  picture  of  the 
life  and  character  of  a  people,  no  question  of  fact  is 
allowed  by  him  to  block  the  way  and  impede  the  com- 
pletion of  the  design.  If  that  design,  for  the  moment, 
is  to  exalt  the  Catholic  Church,  all  the  necessary  adjec- 
tives will  be  piled  up  in  the  most  pleasing  and  effective 
manner;  and  if  the  picture  is  designed  to  vilify  the 
same,  all  the  graces  of  rhetoric  will  just  as  readily  con- 
spire together  towards  the  furtherance  of  that  end. 

Lord  Macaulay  says :     9  "When,  in  our  own  time,  a 

9  "Hist,    of   England,"    Vol.    ii,    p.    60. 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism    297 

new  and  terrible  pestilence  passed  round  the  world, 
when,  in  some  great  cities,  fear  had  dissolved  all  the 
ties  which  hold  society  together,  when  the  secular  clergy 
had  forsaken  their  flocks,  when  medical  succor  was 
not  to  be  purchased  by  gold,  when  the  strongest  natural 
affections  had  yielded  to  the  love  of  life,  even  then  the 
Jesuit  was  found  by  the  pallet  which  bishop  and  curate, 
physician  and  nurse,  father  and  mother,  had  deserted, 
baiding  over  infected  lips  to  catch  the  first  accents  of 
confession,  and  holding  up  to  the  last,  before  the  expir- 
ing penitent,  the  image  of  the  expiring  Redeemer." 

With  all  this  the  Jesuits  are  not  overpraised.  We 
arc  now  to  view  the  reverse  side  of  the  picture,  the 
side  that  has  for  its  object  the  consigning  of  the  Jesuits 
to  shame  and  contempt,  and  which  forms  the  basis  of 
the  dictionary's  definition  of  the  word. 

"It  was  alleged,"  says  Lord  Macaulay,  "and  not  without 
foundation,  that  the  ardent  public  spirit  which  made 
the  Jesuit  regardless  of  his  ease,  of  his  liberty,  and  of 
his  life,  made  him  also  regardless  of  truth  and  of 
mercy ;  that  no  means  which  could  promote  the  interests 
of  his  religion  seemed  to  him  unlawful.  ...  It 
was  alleged  that,  in  the  most  atrocious  plots  recorded 
in  history,  his  agency  could  be  distinctly  traced ;  that, 
constant  only  in  attachment  to  the  fraternity  to  which 
he  belonged,  he  was  in  some  countries  the  most  danger- 
ous enemy  of  freedom,  and  in  others  the  most  dangerous 
enemy  of  order.  .  .  .  Instead  of  toiling  to  elevate 
human  nature  to  the  noble  standard  fixed  by  divine 
precept  and  example,  he  had  lowered  the  standard  till 
it  was  beneath  the  average  level  of  human  nature.  He 


298    History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

gloried  in  multitudes  of  converts  .  .  .  but  it  was 
reported  from  some  of  those  converts  that  the  facts  on 
which  the  whole  theology  of  the  Gospel  depends  had 
been  cunningly  concealed,  and  that  others  were  per- 
mitted to  avoid  persecution  by  bowing  down  before  the 
images  of  false  gods,  while  internally  repeating  Paters 
and  Aves.  .  .  .  If  he  had  to  deal  with  a  mind  truly 
devout,  he  spoke  in  the  saintly  tones  of  the  primitive 
fathers;  but  with  that  large  part  of  mankind  who  have 
religion  enough  to  make  them  uneasy  when  they  do 
wrong,  and  not  religion  enough  to  keep  them  from 
doing  wrong,  he  followed  a  different  system.  Since 
he  could  not  reclaim  them  from  vice,  it  was  his  busi- 
ness to  save  them  from  remorse.  He  had  at  his  com- 
mand an  immense  dispensary  of  anodynes  for  wounded 
consciences.  In  the  books  of  casuistry  which  had  been 
written  by  his  brethren,  and  printed  with  the  approba- 
tion of  his  superiors,  were  to  be  found  doctrines  con- 
solatory to  transgressors  of  every  class.  There  the 
bankrupt  was  taught  how  he  might  without  sin,  secrete 
his  goods  from  his  creditors.  The  servant  was  taught 
how  he  might,  without  sin,  run  off  with  his  master's 
plate.  The  pander  was  assured  that  a  Christian  man 
might  innocently  earn  his  living  by  carrying  letters 
between  married  women  and  their  gallants."  .  .  . 

"In  truth,  if  society  continued  to  hold  together,  if 
life  and  property  enjoyed  any  security,  it  was  because 
common  sense  and  common  humanity  restrained  men 
from  doing  what  the  Order  of  Jesus  assured  them 
they  might  with  a  safe  conscience  do." 

"It  is  alleged,  and  not  without  foundation,"  that  the 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism    299 

noble  Lord  received  both  his  inspiration,  and  his  infor- 
mation, for  this  beautifully  written,  but  fearfully  calum- 
nious article,  from  a  book  entitled  "Secret  instructions 
of  the  Society  of  Jesus."  This  book  was  published  in 
1614  at  Cracow,  without  the  author's  name.  Two  years 
after,  it  was  condemned  by  the  Congregation  of  the 
Index,  as  "falsely  ascribed  to  the  Society,  calumnious, 
and  full  of  defamatory  matter." 

The  New  International  Encyclopedia  says :  10  "Its 
genuineness  has  ceased  to  be  defended  by  scholars,  what- 
ever their  point  of  view." 

Before  these  base  fabrications  had  passed  a  two 
years'  limit  of  existence,  they  were  repudiated ;  and 
yet  we  see  a  great  writer  stooping  to  revive  and  reha- 
bilitate them  for  the  purpose  of  making  protestant 
history. 

Of  like  character,  and  equal  truthfulness,  are  the 
excerpts  anent  the  Jesuits  contained  in  a  history  pro- 
fessedly for  the  enlightenment  of  our  youth. 

11  "Loyola  draws  up  a  set  of  actions  for  the  society. 

"  *1.     A  good  motive  makes  any  action  right.' 

"That  is  what  Loyola  believes.  It  is  right  to  tell  a 
lie,  to  take  a  false  oath,  to  defraud,  and  commit  even 
murder,  if  done  for  the  good  of  the  Church. 

"  '2.  In  taking  oaths,  the  members  may  make  mental 
reservations  to  break  them,  if  they  can  benefit  the 
Church  by  so  doing.' 

"  'If  called  upon  to  justify  any  of  their  actions,  they 
may  give  a  false  motive  instead  of  the  real  one.  They 

10  Vol.   xii,   p.   518. 

11  "The    Story   of   Liberty,"    by   Chas.    C.    Coffin,    p.    224. 


300   History  Since  Advent-of  Protestantism 

may  equivocate,  may  justify  fraud  and  deceit,  without 
any  scruples  of  conscience.' 

"The  Pope  promises  to  grant  them  absolution  for 
whatever  they  may  do  that  in  itself  is  wrong,  but  which 
he  will  make  right,  because  it  is  for  the  good  of  the 
Church. 

"  '3.  No  member  of  the  society  shall  submit  him- 
self to  be  examined  before  any  court  of  justice 
without  the  permission  of  his  superior.' 

"This  makes  the  society  superior  to  the  State,  to 
kings  and  emperors — superior  to  all  law. 

"With  the  Pope's  blessing  resting  upon  them, 
the  members  of  the  society  go  forth,  in  their  enthus- 
iasm to  establish  the  Church  in  every  land  .  .  . 
bringing  myriads  of  the  human  race  under  the  domin- 
ion of  the  Church ;  persuading,  where  persuasion  will 
accomplish  what  they  desire,  and  employing  force 
where  force  is  possible,  regardless  of  natural  rights 
and  liberties. 

"We  shall  see,  by-and-by  what  will  come  from 
such  an  organization,  established  on  a  code  of  morals 
which  sets  up  vice  for  virtue,  falsehood  for  truth, 
deceit  for  honesty;  which  claims  to  be  superior  to 
king,  emperor,  Parliament,  or  Congress;  which  makes 
itself  a  despotism  over  the  hearts  and  consciences 
of  men;  which  places  its  spies  in  every  household, 
taking  note  of  the  actions  and  beliefs  of  every  indi- 
vidual;  trampling  on  all  law;  setting  aside  all  author- 
ity; acknowledging  only  one  whom  they  are  bound 
to  obey — the  Pope  of  Rome !" 

It  is  certain  that  the  "set  of  actions,"  which  serves 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism    301 

as  the  motive  for  the  concluding  peroration,  can  no- 
where be  verified  in  the  writings  of  the  society  named. 
Instead  of  making  profession  of  such  principles  of 
action  they  have,  whenever  occasion  offered,  de- 
nounced them  in  the  strongest  terms.  One's  interest 
in  the  "set  of  actions"  is  dwarfed  by  the  greatness 
of  the  desire  to  know  where  the  author  received 
his  information,  and  what  his  reason  could  have  been 
for  withholding  it. 

There  is  a  character  in  fiction  whose  "set  of 
actions,"  led  by  common  assent  to  the  prefix  to  his 
family  name  of  the  word  "rogue;"  this  undesirable 
appellation  seemed  to  inspire  him  to  make  upon  all 
occasions,  asseverations  of  probity  even  before  the 
question  had  been  raised;  so  this  distinguished  author 
of  "The  Story  of  Liberty"  has  felt  it  to  be  incumbent 
upon  him,  in  the  first  line  of  the  introduction,  to 
make  the  announcement  that  "this  Story  of  Liberty  is 
a  true  narrative !" 

The  following  citations  are  from  a  "Handbook  of 
English  History,"  by  Guest  and  Underwood,  which 
work  was  in  use  in  some  of  the  public  schools  in 
California  in  1899,  and  for  aught  we  know  to  the 
contrary  may  still  be  the  authority  on  that  subject. 
This  alleged  History  is  well  stocked  with  the  usual 
misstatements  concerning  historical  facts,  and  is  filled 
with  gross  misrepresentations  of  catholic  doctrines 
and  practices. 

Item  No.  1.  12"The  Crusaders  believed  if  they 
made  these  journeys,  their  sins  would  be  forgiven. 

12  p.  153. 


302    History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

A  pilgrim  would  lay  by  his  shirt  once  worn  in  Jeru- 
salem that  he  might  be  buried  in  it,  for  he  thought 
it  would  carry  him  straight  to  heaven." 

Item  No.  2.  18  "These  pardons  were  parchments 
which  were  bought  of  the  Friars  and  other  'pardon- 
ers.' " 

Item  No.  3.  14  "The  Pope  whom  the  English  sup- 
ported" against  WyclifTe  "sent  some  of  those  'sacks 
full  of  pardons'  to  the  people  of  England  and  pro- 
claimed that  he  would  absolve  from  every  crime  or 
fault  those  who  would  help  him  in  destroying  his 
enemies.  These  pardons,  of  course,  were  not  to  be 
had  for  nothing,  but  were  bought,  and  it  was  solemnly 
declared  that  all  who  had  given  their  money  and 
should  die  at  this  time  were  absolved  from  every 
fault." 

Item  No.  4.  15  "Jeanne  D'Arc  and  all  the  others 
in  the  Church  would  kneel  and  pray  before  the 
images  of  the  saints  and  angels,  without  a  moment's 
doubt  that  they  could  hear  and  answer." 

Item  No.  5  16  "In  the  forest  where  Jeanne  lived 
the  priest  used  to  drive  away  the  fairies." 

Item  No.  6.  I7  "The  lower  clergy  used  their  power 
as  a  means  of  getting  money.  If  a  man  did  not  like 
to  do  penance  after  confession,  he  might  pay  money 
instead  and  be  absolved  just  the  same.  Rich  people 

is  p.  281. 

14  p.  294. 

15  p.  337. 

16  p.   338. 

17  p.  385. 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism   303 

could  get  dispensations  from  fasting  by  praying  for 
them." 

Item  No.  7.  18  "Another  means  of  raising  money 
was  to  send  people  on  pilgrimages  to  some  holy 
shrine  or  miraculous  image  to  get  forgiveness  for 
their  sins.  But  every  one  knew  that  it  was  no  use 
to  go  empty  handed." 

Item  No.  8.  19  "It  was  supposed  that  no  one  but 
a  great  saint  went  at  once  to  heaven  after  death ;  but 
no  baptized  person,  unless  excommunicated,  perished 
forever,  so  that  almost  every  one  went  to  Purga- 
tory; and  a  priest  could  release  him  by  saying  a  cer- 
tain number  of  Masses  which  were  to  be  paid  for." 

Item  No.  9.  20  "It  is  not  to  be  supposed  that  the 
people  became  protestants  at  once,  it  was  only  by 
degrees  that  they  learned  to  see  that  among  the 
things  that  they  had  been  brought  up  to  believe, 
some  were  untrue,  some  uncertain  and  some  vain 
and  superstitious." 

Item  No.  10.  21  "The  Pope  himself,  Gregory  XIII., 
gave  his  consent  to  the  murder  of  Elizabeth!" 

Mr.  Charles  Dickens  in  his  "Child's  History  of 
England,"  says:  22  "The  Catholic  Church  never  per- 
mitted a  translation  of  the  Scriptures  into  English." 
Mr.  Dickens  also  describes  how  Luther  found  the 
Bible,  23  "which  the  priests  did  not  allow  to  be  read, 
and  which  contained  truths  that  they  suppressed." 

18  p.  386. 

19  p.  387. 

20  p.  404. 

21  p.  432. 

22  p.    73. 

23  p.    59. 


304   History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

Again,  the  infant  mind  is  enlightened  by  the  informa- 
tion that  Church  teaching  largely  consisted  24  "in 
finding  artful  excuses  and  pretenses  for  almost  any 
wrong  thing,  and  in  arguing  that  black  was  white, 
or  any  other  color."  The  Pope  is  regarded  as  being 
25  "indefatigable  in  getting  the  world  into  trouble." 
Poor  ill  used  world ! 

In  "Goodrich's  History  of  England,"  for  schools, 
the  ancient  fabrication  again  comes  to  light,  that  26  "in- 
dulgences as  they  are  called,  were  also  to  be  bought; 
that  is,  permission  to  commit  crimes."  Markham's 
"History  of  England"  teaches  the  youth  27  that  "indul- 
gences were  privileges  that  were  to  be  bought,  allowing 
people  to  do  things  which  were  forbidden;  but  which 
they  had  a  mind  to  do." 

Item  No.  2.  28  "It  was  considered  a  religious  duty 
to  go  to  the  Crusades,  and  it  was  thought  that  those 
who  died  in  the  Holy  Land  were  sure  to  be  received 
into  heaven,  let  their  lives  have  been  ever  so  bad." 
Item  No.  3.  29  "Till  the  time  of  Wycliffe  there  were 
none  but  Latin  Bibles,  which  were  only  to  be  found  in 
possession  of  the  priests;  so  that  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple were  kept  in  total  ignorance  of  the  Scriptures." 
Item  No.  4.  30  "The  venerable  Bede  made  a  transla- 
tion of  the  whole  Bible;"  compare  this  with  item  No. 
3,  and  with  the  first  statement  of  Mr.  Dickens  "but 

24  p.  55. 

25  p.  51. 

26  p.  43. 

27  p.  40. 

28  p.  61. 

29  p.  155. 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism    305 

when  the  Popes  began  to  rule  the  affairs  of  the  English 
Church,  none  but  Latin  Bibles  were  allowed  to  be  used, 
in  order  to  keep  the  people  in  ignorance,  that  the  priests 
and  monks  might  make  them  believe  what  they  pleased." 

According  to  Richard  Dana  Skinner,  in  the  "Catholic 
Review  America"  of  March  2d,  1912,  a  professor  of 
history  at  Harvard  University,  made  the  statement  to 
his  class,  that  "a  careful  study  of  the  Jesuit  order  in 
history  will  show  that  its  real  motto — although  a 
Jesuit  himself  would  never  admit  it — is:  'The  end 
justifies  the  means.' "  Questioned  after  class  by  Mr. 
Skinner  regarding  proof  for  the  statement:  the  Harvard 
professor  gave  the  characteristic  protestant  reply,  that 
there  was  none,  but  that  "appearances  pointed  that 
way !" 

In  each  and  every  historical  excerpt  to  which  the 
reader's  attention  has  been  called,  all  are  of  a  date 
subsequent  to  "The  Great  Reformation,"  and  emanate 
from  that  event  as  corroborative  of  its  claims.  In  all 
these  so-called  historical  facts,  it  is  well  to  note  that  no 
attempt  has  been  made — and  as  we  may  infer, — could 
not  be  made,  to  substantiate  any  one  of  them.  These 
excerpts  then  must  be  considered,  not  as  history,  but 
as  the  statements  of  prejudiced  writers  who  seek  to 
distort  and  wrest  the  truths  of  history  for  partisan 
purposes. 

In  a  book  entitled  "English  History  for  Americans," 
by  Thomas  Wentworth  Higginson,  and  Edward  Chan- 
ning,  is  found  how  the  English  people  first  became 
protestant,  secondly  catholic,  and  thirdly  protestant 
again.  "For  many  years  the  English  still  remained 


306   History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

pagan,  worshipping  the  old  Saxon  gods;  but  just  before 
the  end  of  the  sixth  century  Augustine,  a  monk,  visited 
England.  Fortunately  for  him,  the  king  of  Kent,  named 
Ethelbert,  had  married  a  Christian  wife,  daughter  of 
the  King  of  the  Franks,  so  Augustine  was  allowed 
to  land. 

"Between  his  wife's  persuasions  and  those  of  this 
monk,  Ethelbert  became  a  Christian,  and  allowed  Aug- 
ustine to  live  at  Canterbury,  where  the  head  of  the 
Church  of  England  has  ever  since  had  a  palace,  his 
title  being  that  of  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  .  .  . 
then  by  degrees  all  the  other  kings  and  their  people 
became  Christians.  And  what  was  almost  as  important, 
before  long  the  English  Church  became  a  portion  of 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  to  which  the  leading 
nations  of  western  Europe  also  belonged."  Just  how 
it  could  be  said  that  a  Church  founded  by  a  Catholic 
monk  under  the  instructions  of  Pope  Gregory  I,  could — 
instead  of  at  its  foundation — "before  long  become  a 
part  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,"  these  protestant 
historians  have  neglected  to  inform  us ! 

This  visit  of  Augustine's  was  not  the  first  attempt 
at  introducing  Christianity  into  Britain.  History  in- 
forms us  that  in  the  second  century  the  .Roman  Pontiff 
Eleutherius,  at  the  request  of  a  British  prince,  sent 
two  missionaries,  Fugatius,  and  Dameanus,  who  have 
been  regarded  as  the  Apostles  of  Britain.  Some  cen- 
turies later,  with  the  conquest  of  Britain  by  the  pagan 
Saxons,  all  the  refinements  of  the  ancient  Britons,  to- 
gether with  the  knowledge  of  the  Gospel,  were  borne 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism   307 

down  and  swept  away  in  the  deluge  of  heathen  bar- 
barism that  inundated  the  land. 

The  Britohs,  who  escaped,  retired  before  the  vic- 
torious Saxons  into  Wales  and  the  remote  corners  of 
the  north.  The  natural  ferocity  of  the  pagan  Saxons, 
in  time  yielded  to  the  teachings  of  Augustine,  whom 
Pope  Gregory  had  sent  for  their  conversion,  and  this 
rude  and  boisterous  people  were  converted  to  Chris- 
tianity. Of  course,  among  a  people  just  emerging 
from  barbarism,  there  must  have  been  many  slips,  and 
many  falls,  as  the  tide  of  civilization  rose  and  fell. 
31  Mr.  Lingard  says :  "Whenever  they  forgot  their 
new  lessons,  they  fell  back  into  barbarism,  when  they 
returned  again  to  their  teachers,  they  began  to  ascend 
the  scale;  their  good  actions  were  inspired  by  the 
Gospel,  their  bad  deeds  were  the  relics  of  paganism 
not  yet  fully  eradicated." 

Anent  the  conquest  of  the  Britons — which  took  place 
long  before  the  arrival  of  Augustine — the  historian 
Green  says :  32  "The  Roman  Church,  the  Roman  coun- 
try-house, was  left  standing,  though  reft  of  priest  and 
lord."  And  again  Mr.  Green  says :  8S  "Before  the 
landing  of  the  English  in  Britain,  the  Christian  Church 
stretched  in  an  unbroken  line  across  Western  Europe 
to  the  furthest  coasts  of  Ireland." 

What  Church  was  it  that  is  here  spoken  of  as  the 
Christian  Church  ?  Mr.  Green  says :  84  "The  monks 
of  Lindisfarne  looked  for  their  ecclesiastical  tradition, 

si  Lingard. 

32  "Hist,    of    English    People,"    p.    32. 

33  Ibid.,    p.    48. 

34  "Hist,   of  English   People,"   p.    55. 


308    History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

not  to  Rome  but  to  Ireland;  and  quoted  for  their  guid- 
ance the  instructions,  not  of  Gregory,  but  of  Columba. 
Whatever  claims  of  supremacy  over  the  whole  English 
Church  might  be  pressed  by  the  (Roman)  See  of  Can- 
terbury, the  real  metropolitan  of  the  Church  as  it 
existed  in  the  north  of  England  was  the  Abbot  of  lona." 
Mr.  Green  here  seeks  to  show  the  existence  of  a 
more  ancient  Christian  Church  than  that  founded  by 
Augustine,  but  he  has  only  found,  what  was  well  known 
to  be  in  existence,  the  Church  of  the  Britons  founded 
by  missionaries  sent  by  Pope  Eleutherius.  In  this 
ancient  Catholic  Church,  the  teachings  of  St.  Columba 
and  the  Abbots  and  monks  of  Lindisfarne,  are  found 
to  be  in  perfect  accord  with  those  of  Augustine  and 
his  followers.  The  many  messengers  of  the  gospel  of 
peace,  however  separated  by  time  or  distance,  had  but 
the  one  message  to  deliver,  the  one  faith  to  announce 
to  all  alike.  Speaking  of  this  fact  Mr.  Williams  says: 
35  "It  is  surprising  that  so  many  modern  historians 
should  have  represented  the  Britons  as  holding  differ- 
ent doctrines  from  those  professed  by  the  Roman  Mis- 
sionaries, though  these  writers  have  never  yet  pro- 
duced a  single  instance  of  such  difference.  Would 
Augustine  have  required  the  British  clergy  to  join  in 
the  conversion  of  the  Saxons,  if  they  had  taught  doc- 
trines which  he  condemned?  Bede  has  related  with 
great  minuteness  all  the  controversies  between  the  two 
parties.  They  all  regard  points  of  discipline.  No- 
where does  the  remotest  hint  occur  of  any  difference 
respecting  doctrine." 

35  "Hist,    of   Eng-.,    by  Henry   Smith   Williams,    I.L,.    D.,    Vol.    viii 
p.    45. 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism   309 

In  pushing  their  way  westward  the  followers  of 
Augustine  encountered,  as  they  naturally  would,  the 
descendants  of  the  Britons  whom  they  found  to  be 
Christians  like  themselves,  with  the  exception  that  they 
observed  the  festival  of  Easter  upon  a  date  different 
from  the  other  Christian  nations.  The  explanation  of 
this  circumstance  is  easy.  When  the  barbarous  hordes 
of  the  Saxons  had  overrun  the  land,  and  driven  the 
inhabitants  into  the  wilds  of  the  west  and  north,  the 
pagan  conquerors  remained  as  an  impregnable  wall,  in 
front  and  between,  the  isolated  Britons  and  the  Ro- 
man See. 

Although  it  occasionally  happened  that  some  un- 
usually venturesome  bishop  would  reach  Rome  by  way 
of  the  sea,  yet  it  was  at  long  and  irregular  intervals, 
and  they  being  so  cut  off,  were  ignorant  of  what  was 
transpiring  in  the  world  around  them. 

There  having  been  a  variety  of  rules  in  use  for 
determining  the  proper  time  for  celebrating  the  great 
feast  of  the  Resurrection,  for  the  sake  of  uniformity 
a  new  rule  had  been  adopted  at  Rome.  With  the  ex- 
istence of  this  rule,  for  the  reason  mentioned,  the 
Britons  were  unacquainted  and  were  still  observing 
Easter  by  the  same  computation  of  time  as  did  the 
first  missionaries  who,  with  the  attestation  of  many 
miracles,  had  converted  them. 

It  was  perhaps  but  natural  that  when  the  converted 
Saxons  who,  as  barbarians  had  driven  the  Britons 
from  their  homes  and  burned  their  churches  centuries 
before,  now  came  with  a  request  that  they  change  their 
ancient  custom  and  conform  to  that  of  their  old-time 


3  io   History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

conquerors,  they  should  have  met  with  a  stubborn 
refusal. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  result,  to  these  ancient 
Catholics,  of  their  separation  from  the  Holy  See,  where- 
by they  lost  the  missionary  spirit  and,  instead  of  going 
forth  to  preach  the  Gospel  to  the  pagan  Saxons,  re- 
mained at  home  and  spent  their  time  in  well-nigh  in- 
terminable debates  upon  abstruse  subjects  and  intricate 
theological  problems  which,  from  the  absence  of  a 
supreme  authority  to  decide,  never  resulted  in  any- 
thing more  satisfying  than  further  discussion.  If  it 
please  our  adversaries,  here  is  certainly  a  characteristic 
of  protestantism,  but  it  was  a  characteristic  resulting 
from  a  condition  of  circumscribed  environment  other 
than  normal,  and  which  wholly  disappeared  after  the 
Council  of  Whitby,  where  a  final  conclusion  was  ar- 
rived at  by  the  rival  factions.  At  this  council,  Colman, 
Bishop  of  Lindisfarne,  36  "pleaded  for  the  Irish  fashion 
of  the  tonsure  and  for  the  Irish  time  of  keeping  Easter. 
Wilfrid  pleaded  for  the  Roman.  The  one  disputant 
appealed  to  the  authority  of  Columba,  the  other  to 
that  of  St.  Peter.  'You  own,'  cried  the  King  (Oswiee) 
at  last  to  Colman,  'that  Christ  gave  to  Peter  the  keys 
of  the  kingdom  of  heaven — has  he  given  such  power 
to  Columba  ?'  The  Bishop  could  but  answer,  No ! 
Then  will  I  rather  obey  the  porter  of  heaven/  said 
Oswiee,  'lest  when  I  reach  its  gates,  he  who  has  the 
keys  in  his  keeping,  turn  his  back  on  me,  and  there 
be  none  to  open.'  " 

This   was   the   momentous   occasion    when,   according 

86  "Green's    Hist,    of    English    People." 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism   3 1 1 

to  the  Historians  Higginson  and  Channing,  "the  Eng- 
lish Church  became  a  portion  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church,"  without  changing  a  doctrine!  This  under- 
standing of  the  power  of  the  Keys,  is  very  poor  pro- 
testant  doctrine,  and  the  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne  seems 
to  have  been  ignorant  of  the  protestant  definition  that 
the  keys  given  Peter,  37  "were  the  keys  of  the  rooms 
of  the  house  and  also  where  the  provisions  are  kept!" 

The  existence  of  this  isolated  Church,  having  a 
different  time  for  celebrating  Easter  from  the  other 
nations,  is  the  slender  thread  upon  which  the  Anglican 
Church  hangs  its  hopes  of  being  able  to  win  the  popu- 
lar assent  to  its  "Branch  Theory." 

38  "There  were  present  at  the  Council  of  Aries, 
A.  D.  314,  three  British  Bishops;  Restitutus  of  Lon- 
don, Eborius  of  York,  and  Adelphius  of  Lincoln.  At 
this  Council  the  Pope's  Legate  presided  and  the  de- 
crees of  the  Council  were  sent  to  Rome  for  the  sig- 
nature of  the  Pope.  The  fact  that  these  British  bish- 
ops signed  the  decrees  with  the  other  bishops,  shows 
that  they  acknowledged  the  supremacy  of  the  Pope." 

The  contention  that  in  England,  alone  of  all  nations, 
was  a  church  for  a  time  independent  of  the  Roman 
See,  is  an  assertion  utterly  devoid  of  historical  proof. 

It  is  often  taken  for  granted,  by  the  writers  of  his- 
tory, that  catholic  sovereigns  were  accustomed  to  be 
invariably  submissive  to  the  authority  of  the  Pope, 
who  lorded  it  over  them  with  all  the  pomp  and  cir- 
cumstance of  the  most  arrogant  foreign  power.  In 

37  Prot.   Commentator  Ahrens. 

38  "Historians   Hist,   of  the  World,"   Williams,   p.   23. 


3 1 2    History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

histories  written,  in  the  interests  of  protestantism,  the 
Pope  is  always  bad,  but  "the  king  can  do  no  wrong." 
It  is  always  the  civil  government  that  is  lauded,  the 
hierarchy  that  is  blamed.  Whatever  goes  wrong  in 
civil  or  religious  history,  is  uniformly  laid  at  the  Fish- 
erman's door.  The  fact  is,  that  the  sovereign  was  often 
a  catholic  in  name  rather  than  practice. 

In  catholic  countries  there  has  existed  from  the  ear- 
liest times  a  union  between  the  Church  and  the  State. 
In  this  union  the  State  received  the  emoluments  per- 
taining to  the  partnership,  the  Church  the  opprobrium. 
It  was  to  an  extent  appreciable,  that,  owing  to  this  alli- 
ance, a  decadence  in  the  spiritual  life  of  the  Church 
can  be  traced.  The  State,  in  its  pride  and  sense  of 
power,  often  invaded  the  rights  of  the  Church,  con- 
fiscated her  property  and  carried  away  captive,  for 
political  purposes,  her  Pontiffs.  When  it  was  to  the 
advantage  of  temporal  princes  to  uphold  the  authority 
of  the  Roman  See,  they  did  so,  when  it  was  advan- 
tageous for  the  furtherance  of  the  same  ends  to  ignore 
that  authority,  they  manifested  no  reluctance  in  doing 
so ;  indeed  to  make  as  completely  as  possible  the  Pon- 
tiff into  a  puppet,  was  the  aim  of  the  secular  powers. 
It  has  often  been  sought  by  the  State  to  use  its  influ- 
ence in  Papal  elections,  and  its  power  in  forcing  into 
vacant  bishoprics  those  who  might  be  made  subservient 
to  its  will.  In  this  way  grave  scandals  sometimes  arose, 
and  the  remonstrances  of  the  Popes  were  often  in- 
effectual in  keeping  ambitious  and  worldly  men  from 
occupying  positions  of  great  trust  and  responsibility 
in  the  Church.  But  while  these  abuses,  directly  trace- 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism   313 

able  to  the  lust  and  greed  of  the  Caesars  of  this  world, 
have  been  the  occasions  whereby  our  adversaries  have 
sought  our  discomfiture;  yet  they  have  been  of  a 
temporal  duration  only  and  never  could  affect  the 
infallibility  of  her  teaching  or  the  enforcing  of  her 
laws.  "For  the  great  truths  which  it  is  her  mission  to 
teach  have,"  as  Bishop  Spalding  says,  "been  fixed  by 
the  hand  of  God,  and  are  unchangeable;  but  as  it  is 
her  destiny  to  live  in  contact  with  human  society  in 
all  its  ever  varying  degrees  of  development  and  de- 
cay, it  must  also  be  her  fate  to  find  herself  again  and 
again  surrounded  and  interpenetrated  by  abuses  and 
disorders  of  all  kinds." 

Although  the  future  attitude  of  the  newly  organized 
Republics  of  France  and  Portugal  towards  the  Church 
may  not  be  exactly  foreseen,  yet  at  one  time  or  an- 
other, most  Catholic  Sovereigns  have  thought  it  con- 
sistent with  princely  dignity  to  make  burdensome  the 
wearing  of  the  Triple  Crown. 

Among  other  historical  inaccuracies,  some  inquiries 
might  well  be  made  anent  the  reliability  of  that  trusted 
weapon  of  protestant  controversy — the  Spanish  Inquisi- 
tion. This  arm  of  the  civil  power  was  professedly  to 
be  employed  in  preserving  the  Christian  faith  from 
the  evil  designs  of  the  Moors  and  Jews.  It  was, 
however,  from  the  beginning  used  largely  as  a  politi- 
cal power  in  the  upholding  of  the  State's  authority. 
Ferdinand,  by  the  aid  of  the  wisdom  of  this  world, 
obtained  the  privilege  of  appointing  the  Inquisitors, 
and  thus  found,  ready  at  hand,  an  instrument  suitable 
to  his  aims. 

13 


314   History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

As  Dr.  Brownson  remarks:  "It  was  solicited  by  the 
Spanish  King,  and  conceded,  though  reluctantly,  by 
the  Pope,  not  as  a  tribunal  against  peaceable  and  in- 
offensive heretics,  but  it  was  established  for  the  pur- 
pose of  ferreting  out  and  bringing  to  light  persons 
who  were  secretly  conspiring  against  royalty,  as  well 
as  against  religion;  men  plotting  in  secret  to  overthrow 
both  Church  and  State  by  a  violent  and  bloody  revo- 
lution; persons  whom  our  own  laws  would  condemn 
and  punish  as  criminals." 

Spain  had,  at  this  time,  brought  to  a  close  a  long 
and  stubborn  contest  with  the  Moors — the  Cross  against 
the  Crescent.  Was  Spain,  perhaps  all  Europe,  to  be- 
come Mohammedan?  Would  the  Church,  built  on 
Peter,  prevail  against  the  gates  of  hell;  or  would  the 
Lord's  promise  fail  and  he  be  no  more  God  in  Sion? 
The  contest  was  long  waged  and  sanguinary,  with  ever 
varying  fortune,  the  tide  setting  now  for,  and  then 
against,  the  Christian  armies ;  till  at  last  the  infidel 
Saracens  were  overthrown  and  the  victory  was  Christ's. 

But  war,  always  brutalizing  and  degrading,  we  may 
well  suppose  left  for  a  time  its  distinctive  mark  upon 
the  Spanish  people,  and  those  brave  conquerors,  inured 
to  scenes  of  carnage,  had  become  forgetful  of  the 
sacredness  of  human  life,  and  with  the  finer  sensibilities 
dulled  by  familiarity  with  strife  and  bloodshed,  little 
wonder  that  they  should  have  become,  in  some  degree, 
callous  to  human  suffering,  as  they  laid  heavy  hands 
upon  the  conquered  in  the  Spanish  Inquisition. 

We,  who  have  received  the  faith  as  a  free  gift,  little 
realize  what  that  faith  cost  our  fathers  in  the  past, 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism    3 1 5 

and  as  we  compare  our  favored  day  of  religious  tolera- 
tion with  those  turbulent  ages  now  supposedly  gone 
forever,  our  wonder  is  excited  that  those  who  professed 
to  be  followers  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  could  have 
been  so  far  removed  in  spirit  from  .that  perfect  ex- 
ample. But  we  are  all  influenced  in  a  great  measure 
by  our  surroundings,  and  that  which  is  customary  and 
usual,  seems  to  us  at  the  time  to  be  right.  Doubtless 
the  Spanish  Inquisition  occasioned  less  unfavorable 
criticism  at  that  time,  than  when  viewed  by  succeeding 
generations,  as  when  Melancthon  wrote  anent  the  burn- 
ing of  Servetus,  that  "the  magistracy  of  the  republic 
of  Geneva  gave,  by  putting  Servetus  out  of  the  way, 
a  pious  and  memorable  example  to  all  posterity" :  he  had 
no  premonition  concerning  the  light  in  which  "all  pos- 
terity" would  ultimately  regard  it. 

Perhaps  we  shall  never  know  what  degree  of  severity 
was  necessary  to  keep  in  order  the  many  thousands 
of  Moors  and  Jews  who,  that  they  might  be  permitted 
to  remain  in  Spain,  professed  the  Catholic  faith;  but 
it  is  fair  to  presume  that  a  conversion  which  was  the 
outcome  of  such  motives,  could  hardly  have  been  gen- 
uine and  that  while  professing  Christianity  outwardly, 
they  were  as  before  infidel  Moors  and  secret  enemies. 

In  the  "New  International  Encyclopaedia,"  a  work 
usually  free  from  offensive  partisanship,  is  found  a 
definition  of  the  Auto-da-fe,  which  owing  to  its  advo- 
cacy of  protestant  misrepresentations,  seems  an  excep- 
tion to  the  rule.  This  article  received  its  inspiration 
from  a  chapter  on  the  Inquisition  in  Prescott's  life  of 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  and  that  chapter  of  misinforma- 


316   History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

tion  in  turn  imbibed  its  maliciousness  from  the  pois- 
oned fountain  of  history  prepared  by  the  ex-priest 
Llorente.  In  the  thirty-five  pages  of  Prescott's  chapter, 
twenty-four  citations  are  found  from  Llorente's  false 
history.  After  this  article  on  the  Auto-da-fe,  where 
the  statements  of  Llorente  are  given  as  facts;  in  an- 
other volume  of  the  same  work,  speaking  of  Llorente, 
he  says :  "His  statements  deserve  no  credence  what- 
ever." It  is  unusual  certainly  to  produce  in  evidence  a 
witness  of  one's  own  discrediting,  and  it  here  seems  the 
less  necessary,  as  those  in  possession  of  reasoning  facul- 
ties could  not  be  expected  to  believe  a  statement  of  the 
ex-priest's  so  monstrous  as  that,  "those  who  made  pro- 
fession of  the  Catholic  Faith  at  the  last  moment,"  in- 
stead of  being  burned,  "were  so  favored  as  to  be 
strangled !" 

In  a  note  at  the  close  of  the  chapter  on  the  Inquisi- 
tion Mr.  Prescott  cannot  forego  the  pleasure  of  further 
eulogizing  his  friend  Llorente  as  follows:  "Llorente  is 
the  only  writer  who  has  succeeded  in  completely  lifting 
the  veil  from  the  dread  mysteries  of  the  Inquisition. 
It  is  obvious  how  very  few  could  be  competent  to  this 
task,  since  the  proceedings  of  the  Holy  Office  were 
shrouded  in  such  impenetrable  secrecy  that  even  the 
prisoners  who  were  arraigned  before  it,  were  kept  in 
ignorance  of  their  own  processes.  His  official  station 
afforded  him  every  facility  for  an  acquaintance  with 
the  most  recondite  affairs  of  the  Inquisition." 

The  reason  why  "Llorente  was  the  only  writer  who 
has  succeeded  in  completely  lifting  the  veil"  is  told  by 
himself  in  his  "history."  After  he  had  finished  consult- 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism    317 

ing  the  records,  he  finished  the  records  also  by  making 
light  of  them.  "I  burnt,"  he  says,  "with  King  Joseph's 
approbation  all  the  criminal  processes  save  those  which 
belong  to  history  by  their  importance  or  celebrity,  or 
by  the  quality  of  the  person,  as  that  of  Caranza,  and 
of  Macanez,  and  a  few  others."  "Was  there  no  place," 
says  Balmez,  "to  be  found  in  Madrid  to  place  the  pro- 
ceedings and  documents,  where  they  could  be  exam- 
ined by  those  who,  after  Llorente,  might  wish  to  write 
the  history  of  the  Inquisition  from  the  original  docu- 
ments ?" 

Llorente's  "History"  was  written  in  the  interests  of 
the  Bonapartes.  It  seems  to  have  been  the  ambition 
of  the  Man  of  Destiny — whose  destiny  it  was  to  pine 
on  a  barren  isle  for  the  general  benefit  of  mankind — 
to  place  on  the  different  thrones  of  Europe  his  relatives 
that  all  might  enjoy  the  blessings  of  good  government 
under  the  Bonapartes. 

Llorente,  whose  forced  resignation  as  Secretary  of 
the  Inquisition  had  been  promptly  accepted,  in  1791, 
after  engaging  in  sundry  occupations,  lent  or  sold  the 
aid  of  his  pen,  in  assisting  Napoleon  to  place  his  brother 
in  1808  upon  the  Spanish  throne. 

Llorente  uses  a  citation  from  the  Jesuit  writer  Ma- 
riana to  the  effect  that  two  thousand  victims  perished 
in  1482  in  the  dioceses  of  Seville  and  Cadiz  alone; 
whereas  what  Mariana  does  say  is,  that  the  number 
given  was  for  all  Spain  and  for  the  fifteen  years  of 
Torquemada's  administration.  The  statements  of  Llor- 
ente concerning  the  hundreds  of  thousands  who  per- 
ished in  the  331  years  of  the  Inquisition  in  Spain,  are 


3 1 8    History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

now  generally  discredited  by  all  historians.  Even  the 
"dyed  in  the  wool"  Prescott  writes :  "One  might  rea- 
sonably distrust  Llorente's  tables,  from  the  facility 
with  which  he  receives  the  most  improbable  estimates, 
in  other  matters,  as,  for  example,  the  number  of  ban- 
ished Jews  which  he  puts  at  eight  hundred  thousand. 
I  have  shown  from  contemporary  sources  that  the  num- 
ber did  not  probably  exceed  one  hundred  and  sixty 
thousand." 

The  Spanish  Inquisition  took  cognizance  of  a  large 
number  of  crimes,  among  them,  polygamy,  usury,  se- 
duction, treason,  sacrilege,  public  blasphemy,  church- 
robbery,  murder,  smuggling,  theft,  etc.  Heresy,  being 
but  one  among  many,  much  the  larger  number  were 
punished  for  other  crimes. 

The  great  assistance  which  Llorente's  "History  of 
the  Spanish  Inquisition"  has  been  to  the  cause  of  prot- 
estantism, has  been  fully  appreciated  by  that  party. 
The  fearful  exaggerations  of  the  main  facts  by  the  ex- 
priest  still  further  by  easily  excited  minds  multiplied 
have  proved  a  veritable  fortification  from  whose  bat- 
tlements young  orators  have  long  hurled  deadly  missiles 
of  eloquence,  and  the  pen  of  the  ready  writer  secured 
for  its  owner — renown. 

As  a  case  in  point,  Mr.  Prescott  says:  "This  work 
of  Llorente  well  deserves  to  be  studied,  as  the  record 
of  the  most  humiliating  triumph  which  fanaticism  has 
ever  been  able  to  obtain  over  human  reason,  .  .  ." 
and  "that  the  embers  of  this  fanaticism  may  be  rekin- 
dled too  easily,  even  in  this  nineteenth  century." 

The    words    of    warning    of    this    prejudiced    writer, 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism   319 

anent  the  rekindling  of  the  embers,  etc.,  had  their  ful- 
fillment not  long  afterwards  in  Prescott's  native  city, 
in  another  "humiliating  triumph  of  fanaticism  over  rea- 
son," when  a  large  number  of  Boston's  bravest  citizens 
of  pre-revolutionary  blood,  under  the  spell  of  a  frenzied 
burst  of  "fanatical"  oratory  indulged  in,  it  is  alleged, 
by  a  member  of  the  Beecher  family,  proceeded  to  the 
rural  borders  of  the  adjacent  city  of  Charlestown,  and 
there,  at  dead  of  night,  made  a  furious  onslaught  on 
a  Catholic  Convent  occupied  by  a  few  defenseless  and 
gentle  Nuns,  and  their  young  lady  pupils.  When  day- 
light was  near  at  hand  the  dim  outlines  of  crumbling 
walls  and  smoldering  ruins — where  at  yesterday's  vesper 
hour  had  been  a  stately  convent  fair  to  see,  dedicated 
to  prayer,  retirement  from  the  world,  and  the  educa- 
tion of  youth — was  all  that  these  brave  and  gallant 
gentlemen  left  behind  them  on  the  homeward  march ! 

A  very  temperate  and  unprejudiced  article  from  the 
New  International  Encyclopaedia  is  here  cited: 

39  «j>y  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  in  consequence,  it  is 
said,  of  the  alarms  created  by  the  alleged  discovery  of  a 
plot  among  the  Jews  and  Jewish  converts — who  had  been 
required  either  to  emigrate  or  to  conform  to  Chris- 
tianity— to  overthrow  the  Government,  an  application 
was  made  to  Pope  Sixtus  IV.  to  permit  its — the  Span- 
ish Inquisition — reorganization  (1478)  ;  but  in  reviving 
the  tribunal  the  Crown  assumed  to  itself  the  right  of 
appointing  the  inquisitors,  and,  in  fact  of  controlling 
the  entire  action  of  the  tribunal.  The  establishment  of 
the  tribunal  was  sanctioned  by  the  Cortes  at  Toledo  in 

39  Vol.    x,    p.    37. 


320   History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

1480,  and  from  this  date  the  Spanish  Inquisition  be- 
came a  State  tribunal,  a  character  which  is  recognized 
by  Ranke,  Guizot,  Leo,  and  even  the  great  anti-Papal 
authority,  Llorente.  In  order  to  prove  that  the  Church 
generally,  and  the  Roman  See  itself  was  dissociated 
from  that  State  tribunal,  the  bulls  of  Pope  Sixtus  IV., 
which  protested  against  it,  are  cited.  Notwithstanding 
this  protest,  however,  the  Spanish  Crown  maintained 
its  control  of  the  Inquisition  ...  In  1483  the  Do- 
minican Thomas  Torquemada  became  the  first  Grand 
Inquisitor.  The  Popes  attempted  to  control  the  arbi- 
trary action  of  the  royal  tribunal  and  to  mitigate  the 
rigor  and  injustice  of  its  proceedings,  but  these  meas- 
ures were  ineffective  to  control  the  fanatical  activity  of 
the  local  judges.  When,  however,  Spain  sought  to 
introduce  its  peculiar  Inquisition  into  Naples  also,  Pope 
Paul  III.,  in  1546,  exhorted  the  Neapolitans  to  resist 
its  introduction.  However  severe  the  weight  of  the 
Inquisition  may  have  been  on  heretics  and  unbelievers 
the  number  of  its  victims  as  given  by  Llorente,  an 
unreliable  historian  of  the  Inquisition,  is  enormously 
exaggerated.  His  statements  deserve  no  credence,  what- 
ever, although  he  had  excellent  opportunities  of  learning 
the  truth,  as  he  was  the  secretary  of  the  Inquisition  for 
a  time. 

"He  was  a  violent  partisan,  and  his  errors  and  exag- 
gerations have  been  exposed,  especially  by  Hefele  in 
his  Life  of  Cardinal  Ximenes.  Ranke  does  not  hesi- 
tate in  his  Fiirsten  und  Volken  des  siidlichen  Europas, 
to  impeach  his  honesty.  While  he  gives  the  number  of 
executions  as  three  hundred  and  forty-one  thousand 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism   321 

and  forty-two,  for  the  three  hundred  and  thirty-one 
years  of  its  existence,  the  Catholic  authority,  Gams, 
states  four  thousand  to  have  been  the  total.  .  .  . 
The  Spanish  Inquisition  is  condemned  by  protestants, 
and  non-Spanish  catholics  alike.  Spanish  catholics,  how- 
ever, are  inclined  to  defend  it,  and  hold  that  its  form 
of  proceeding  was  not  as  usually  stated,  but  was  fair 
and  equitable,  considering  what  a  fearful  crime  heresy 
is  in  the  eyes  of  the  Catholic  Church.  There  is  no 
doubt  that  many  of  the  crimes  tried  by  the  inquisitors 
were  such  as  would  now  be  brought  into  our  ordinary 
civil  courts." 

Llorente,  by  burning  the  major  part  of  the  docu- 
mentary evidence  regarding  the  acts  of  the  Inquisition, 
has  left  the  number  of  its  victims  largely  a  matter  of 
conjecture,  but  whatever  that  number  may  be,  it  is 
certain  that  a  small  percentage  was  for  the  crime  of 
heresy.  It  was  known  to  be  principally  a  State  tri- 
bunal and  that  40  the  receipts  from  confiscations,  fines, 
and  all  other  sources  of  revenue  from  the  inquisition 
went  directly  to  the  royal  exchequer. 

The  King,  and  the  Inquisitors  of  his  appointment, 
and  no  one  else,  were  responsible  for  the  acts  of  cruelty 
which  have  been  charged  to  the  Inquisition  in  Spain. 

The  Pope  was  the  first  to  make  protest,  saying  to 
Ferdinand  and  Isabella  that  "mercy  towards  the  guilty 
was  more  pleasing  to  God  than  the  severity  they  were 
using."  The  Pope,  seeing  his  protest  ignored,  wrote 
again  in  the  following  words :  "Since  it  is  clemency 
which,  as  far  as  is  possible  to  human  nature,  makes 

40  "Princes   and   Peoples,"   Rancke,   Vol.   i,   p.   241. 


322    History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

men  equal  to  God:  We  ask  and  entreat  the  King  and 
Queen  by  the  tender  mercies  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
to  imitate  him  whose  property  it  is  ever  to  show  mercy 
and  to  spare,  and  so  to  spare  the  citizens  of  Seville 
and  its  diocese,"  etc.  The  Pontiff  finally  granted  the 
right  of  appeal  to  the  Roman  See,  to  which  already 
large  numbers  had  fled  for  protection. 

These  poor  people  who  fled  to  the  Pope,  must  have 
been  able  to  recognize  a  friend  in  need  with  greater 
certainty  than  those  writers  who  make  history  to  order 
can  be  supposed  to  know  or  to  be  willing  to  admit. 
There  is  an  old  saying  to  the  effect  that  "the  city  of  the 
Popes  is  the  paradise  of  the  Jews."  The  Roman  Pon- 
tiffs never  regarded  the  Spanish  Inquisition  with  favor. 
Leo  X.  desired  its  abolition  and  in  1519  excommuni- 
cated all  the  officers  of  the  tribunal  of  Toledo  for  their 
cruelties.  Paul  III.,  ^Pius  IV.  and  Gregory  XIII.  op- 
posed its  introduction  into  other  dependencies  of  the 
Spanish  Crown. 

Archbishop  Spalding  says :  41  "To  charge  the  Popes, 
or  the  Catholic  Church,  with  the  abuses  of  the  Spanish 
Inquisition  is  most  unjust.  It  is  certain  that  they  did 
everything  in  their  power  to  restrain  the  excesses  of 
that  tribunal,  and  if  they  at  times  failed,  it  was  the 
fault  of  temporal  princes,  not  of  the  Church.  One 
fact  would  alone  suffice  to  show  how  utterly  unable  the 
Pope,  and  even  a  General  Council,  was  to  reverse  one 
of  its  decisions.  While  the  Council  of  Trent  was  in 
session,  Bartholomew  Caranza,  Archbishop  of  Toledo, 
and  Primate  of  all  Spain,  was  arrested  by  the  Inquisi- 

41  "Miscellanea,"    Vol.    i,    p.    232. 


History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism   323 

tion  (1557)  at  the  command  of  Philip  II.,  and  kept 
eight  years  in  prison,  for  having  incurred  the  royal 
displeasure,  and  on  a  charge  of  heresy.  As  soon  as  the 
distinguished  prelate's  innocence  was  known  Paul  IV. 
and  the  Fathers  of  the  Council  entered  energetic  pro- 
tests against  such  proceedings,  and  demanded  the  lib- 
eration of  Caranza.  But  their  efforts  were  unavailing; 
the  Inquisition  remained  inflexible,  and  the  imprisoned 
Archbishop  was  released  only  after  eight  years  of  cap- 
tivity. If  this  fact  does  not  prove  that  the  Church 
had  no  control  over  the  Spanish  Inquisition,  and  con- 
sequently cannot  be  held  responsible  for  its  abuses,  we 
are  at  a  loss  to  find  better  evidences  of  our  contention." 

It  should  be  taken  into  consideration  by  those  who 
indulge  in  severe  strictures  concerning  the  Spanish  In- 
quisition, that  cruel  punishments  for  crime  were  cus- 
tomary among  all  nations  even  long  after  that  time. 
In  England  under  the  protestant  Inquisitions  of  Henry 
and  Elizabeth,  peaceable  and  unoffending  catholics,  who 
denied  no  tenet  of  the  faith  that  Augustine  had  taught, 
were  for  the  one  offense  of  being  catholics  treated  far 
more  cruelly  than  were  those  enemies  of  all  religion, 
law,  and  order  in  Spain. 

The  scope  and  design  of  the  Spanish  Inquisition  was 
the  punishment  of  offenses  against  law,  both  human 
and  divine;  that  of  the  English  Inquisition,  to  punish 
those  who,  through  unjust  laws,  reduced  to  the  ex- 
tremity of  choosing  between  obedience  to  God,  and 
obedience  to  man,  chose  the  former.  The  recounting 
of  all  the  ingenious  means  which,  in  these  Inquisitions, 
cruel  men  devised  to  furnish  so  many  with  a  martyr's 


324   History  Since  Advent  of  Protestantism 

crown,  would  be  serving  but  a  poor  purpose.  It  is 
often  better  to  forget  than  to  remember.  Let  prot- 
estants  forget  the  Spanish  Inquisition  where  none  of 
their  belief  were  called  upon  to  suffer,  and  catholics 
forget  the  English  Inquisition  where  all  did  suffer  for 
professing  the  ancient  Catholic  Faith,  and  both  remem- 
ber the  beautiful  words  of  our  present  Pontiff,  that 
"no  good  cause  was  ever  built  on  the  ruins  of  charity." 

The  Catholic  church — notwithstanding  what  protest- 
ant  writers  may  say  to  the  contrary — because  she  is 
God's  church  and  the  reflection  of  his  will,  is  always  on 
the  side  of  justice,  mercy,  and  peace.  With  her,  faith, 
hope,  and  charity  abide,  "and  the  greatest  of  these  is 
Charity." 

The  supreme  Pontiff  rebuked  the  Catholic  Sovereigns 
of  Spain,  and  excommunicated  the  officials  of  the  In- 
quisition when  other  means  failed.  The  Church  used 
all  her  influence  to  inspire  the  inquisitors  with  that 
charity  of  which  she,  in  the  spirit  of  the  Master,  is 
the  example.  The  Papal  power  encouraged  the  op- 
pressed to  appeal  their  causes  from  their  cruel  judges 
to  the  Holy  See,  which  court  of  mercy  was  free  to  all; 
where  human  life  was  sacred,  and  death  penalties  for 
heresy  unknown. 

To  the  Eternal  city  under  the  benign  rule  of  the 
Popes,  we  see  Jew  and  Christian  alike,  from  the  storm 
of  a  relentless  and  cruel  persecution  under  kings — turn 
their  steps  as  to  a  haven  of  rest. 


CONCLUSION. 

Having  largely  exceeded  the  limits  set  for  this  work, 
and  having  dealt  at  sufficient  length  with  the  doctrines 
of  the  Catholic  Church,  which  have  been  the  subject 
of  controversy,  there  remains  but  the  summing  up 
and  the  final  closing. 

The  claim  advanced  by  protestants  is,  that  the  first 
Church  established,  in  the  course  of  a  few  centuries — 
exact  time  not  agreed  upon — fell  into  many  dangerous 
errors,  and  instead  of  remaining  "the  pillar  and  ground 
of  the  truth/'  became  a  pillar  and  ground  of  untruth ; 
a  teacher  of  idolatrous  beliefs  and  practices  foreign  to 
the  purpose  of  its  institution. 

To  justify  a  new  departure  from  a  long  established 
course,  it  is  customary  to  put  forth  the  best  possible 
reasons  for  the  action  taken.  We  may  well  suppose 
that  the  assertion  that  the  old  was  incompetent,  and 
the  new  a  necessity,  was  the  best  that  could  be  devised ; 
and  it  has  been  so  industriously  hammered  upon,  driven 
in  and  clinched  in  the  protestant  mind,  as  to  be  relied 
upon  as  a  complete  refutation  of  all  catholic  claims. 

There  is  an  appearance  of  plausibility  in  this  ex- 
cuse, traceable  to  the  wrong  ideas  and  bad  example 
of  many  careless  lives  in  the  Church  at  this  time. 
The  most  dangerous  foes  are  often  those  of  our  own 
household:  the  lame,  the  halt,  and  the  blind  in  the 
faith,  in  the  lure  of  the  gay  world's  splendors,  find 
in  its  promise  of  a  quick  return  for  small  investments, 


326  Conclusion 

a  charm  more  potent  than  that  long  deferred  promise 
of  happiness  which  religion  offers  as  the  reward  of  a 
well  spent  life. 

The  accusations  of  protestants,  anent  the  evil  living 
and  the  worldliness  of  so  many  at  this  time  we  cannot 
deny;  but  until  it  can  be  shown  that  this  falling  away 
from  former  standards,  was  the  outcome  of  the 
Church's  teaching — and  that  too  in  an  age  that  pro- 
duced such  men  as  a  Francis  Xavier,  Sir  Thomas 
More,  Bishop  Fisher,  Loyola  and  others — these  accusa- 
tions fall  far  short  of  the  mark. 

In  the  New  Testament's  account  of  the  Church's 
founding  it  will  be  noticed  that  the  care  bestowed 
upon  it  was  largely  in  the  interests  of  perpetuity,  and 
no  hint  is  seen  regarding  its  possible  failure  in  coming 
time.  The  "reformers"  who  have  invented  this  theory 
concerning  the  Church's  failure,  have  done  the  best 
they  could  to  justify  the  breaking  of  Christian  unity; 
but  which,  by  its  lack  of  forethought,  has  brought 
them  in  direct  opposition  to  revealed  truth,  which  so 
clearly  proclaims  the  Church's  indefectibility,  whilst 
they  dishonor  God,  by  ascribing  to  'him  an  imperfect 
work  which  needed  for  its  improvement  the  finishing 
touch  of  man.  The  Scripture,  as  though  in  anticipa- 
tion of  this  heresy  that  God's  Church  must  fail  that 
his  creatures  might  make  a  better  one,  sends  its  ring- 
ing denial  down  the  ages  in  the  divine  Master's  words, 
"the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  my  Church." 

By  denying  the  necessity  of  a  supreme  head,  and 
the  substitution  of  the  wfong  of  1  "private  interpreta- 

i  II   Peter   i,    20. 


Conclusion  327 

tion"  in  place  of  that  authority;  the  "rival  churches" 
are  always  in  doubt,  having  opinions  only  where  they 
should  have  faith,  and  are  in  like  condition  with  civil 
courts  having  no  judge. 

"The  difficulties  of  belief  are  great,"  says  Dr.  Fair- 
bairn,  and  if  we  contemplate  the  mighty  army  of  un- 
believers who  by  reason  of  these  "difficulties"  have  lost 
the  faith,  the  truthfulness  of  the  confession  must  be 
conceded.  But  from  whence  came  these  difficulties? 
Was  it  our  Lord's  design  to  place  obstacles  in  our 
way  that  the  search  for  truth  might  be  the  more  illu- 
sive? No,  he  desired  the  truth  for  all  men,  for  in 
truth  lies  the  way  of  salvation.  The  difficulties  of  be- 
lief then  have  come  through  mankind  themselves. 
Who  were  the  guilty  ones? 

It  is  acknowledged  that  up  to  the  time  of  "The 
Great  Reformation" — although  no  age  had  been  without 
its  heretics — the  faith  of  the  masses  was  definitely  set- 
tled, and  the  air  reasonably  clear  of  fruitless  discus- 
sions concerning  it.  The  Church,  as  far  as  it  was 
possible,  familiarized  the  illiterate  people  of  early  times 
with  the  great  truths  of  the  Bible,  and  taught  the 
doctrines  she  had  been  divinely  commissioned  to  teach, 
with  authority;  and  difficulties  of  belief  were  compara- 
tively unknown. 

The  "difficulties  of  belief"  then,  came  with  "The 
Great  Reformation,"  and  the  innovators  who  made  the 
criminal  mistake  of  essaying  to  reform  God's  Church, 
rather  than  men's  lives,  were  the  guilty  ones.  Be- 
wildered by  a  host  of  contradictory  teachers  whose  pri- 
vate opinions  regarding  the  meaning  of  each  text  and 


328  Conclusion 

psalm  serve  to  obscure  rather  than  reveal  the  truth, 
causing  the  mind  to  become  unsettled,  and  appalled, 
at  the  utter  hopelessness  of  the  task  of  investigating 
the  legion  of  opinions  that  have  intruded  themselves 
upon  the  world  through  the  medium  of  private  judg- 
ment, as  a  natural  result,  men  have  been  driven  at  last 
to  give  up  all  hope  of  being  able  to  unravel  the  tangle, 
and  so  settle  down  into  an  apathetic  slumber  from 
which  one  might  as  well  attempt  the  awakening  of 
the  dead. 

Among  these  disheartened  ones — wrecks  that  strew 
the  shore  line  of  protestantism — are  to  be  seen  the  host 
of  one  time  believers,  who  may  be  styled  the  religious 
fad  followers,  who  have  made  a  finish  of  the  faith  in 
the  superstitions  and  heretical  beliefs  of  the  day ;  such 
as  Spiritism,  Theosophy  and  Christian  Science,  to- 
gether with  other  ghosts  of  past  heresies,  that  seem  in 
their  turn  to  come  upon  the  stage,  excite  a  nine  days' 
wonder,  and  fade  from  sight,  as  moving  pictures  that 
have  served  to  grace  a  holiday  on  their  way  to  ob- 
livion. 

2  "The  Protestant  churches,"  says  Mr.  Ray  Stan- 
nard  Baker,  "may  be  said,  indeed,  to  have  no  longer 
any  very  positive  convictions  or  any  very  definite  pro- 
gram. They  no  longer  believe  their  own  creeds ;  and 
the  old  fervor  of  hostility  with  which  they  becudgeled 
one  another — a  sign  of  life  at  least — has  departed.  No 
longer  fighting  one  another,  neither  do  they  unite : 
there  is  no  fire  to  fuse  them.  Scarcely  two  ministers, 

2  American   Magazine,    June,    1909. 


Conclusion  329 

let  alone  two  denominations,  agree  either  on  doctrine 
or  methods  of  work." 

The  unenviable  opinion  here  expressed  regarding 
the  present  condition  of  the  protestant  churches,  is 
largely  shared  in,  both  by  some  within  and  many  with- 
out the  fold — the  latter,  recognizing  that  other  sad 
fact,  that  the  cessation  of  old  time  hostilities  may  not 
be  caused  so  much  from  change  of  heart,  as  from 
indifference. 

The  history  of  protestantism  from  the  acceptance  of 
its  appropriate  name  at  the  Diet  of  Spires,  A.  D.  1529, 
to  the  present  day,  is  one  of  continuous  but  unavail- 
ing effort  in  the  search  for  truth.  What  is  religious 
truth?  Where  shall  we  find  it?  No  answer  entirely 
satisfactory  has  been  found,  and  yet  this  truth,  which 
our  separated  brethren  think  they  cannot  find,  is  abso- 
lutely necessary  to  salvation.  Perhaps  no  saying  among 
protestants  is  oftener  heard,  than  that  "there's  good 
in  all  churches."  Good  presumably  means  truth. 

Has  protestant  thought  ever  considered  the  effect  of 
one  church — among  the  four  hundred  and  one — with 
sufficient  scope  to  take  in  all  truth,  and  leave  all  the 
error  to  the  four  hundred?  Why  would  not  such  a 
division  be  preferable  to  the  equal  distribution  of  truth 
and  error  among  all?  Those  preferring  truth,  could 
find  it  in  the  one  Church  set  apart  as  its  home;  while 
those  who  regard  error  as  being  preferable  could  find 
it  in  its  numerous  abodes,  with  little  effort. 

The  only  objection  might  lie  in  the  loss  of  that 
spirit  of  commercialism  whose  maxim  is,  that  "com- 
petition is  the  life  of  trade."  But  then,  religious  teach- 


330  Conclusion 

ing  was  not  primarily  intended  to  provide  the  many 
with  an  easy,  respectable,  and  remunerative  vocation 
in  life. 

In  the  New  Testament  it  is  found  that  3  Christ — not 
Luther,  Knox,  Wesley  nor  Henry  VIII. — built  the 
Church,  and  that  4  all  were  to  hear  it  as  it  was  the 
5  pillar  and  ground  of  the  truth ;  6  kept  in  all  truth  by 
the  Holy  Ghost  for  all  .  time.  Is  not  this  that  one 
Church  mentioned  which  enjoys  a  monopoly  in  the 
truth? 

The  churches  founded  by  the  distinguished  gentle- 
men named,  fifteen  centuries  after  Christ  founded  his 
Church,  can  lay  no  claim  to  being  churches  of  Christ, 
because  Christ  founded  but  one  Church,  and  that  one, 
upon  a  foundation  that  the  "reformers"  do  not  recog- 
nize. It  follows  then,  that  the  churches  of  the  "re- 
formers" are  not  pillars  of  truth  preserved  from  error 
by  the  Spirit  of  truth,  for  the  reason  that  they  were 
established  for  the  express  purpose  of  perpetuating  a 
diversity  of  faiths  having  in  each  a  portion  of  error; 
while  the  mission  of  the  Holy  Ghost  was  the  preserva- 
tion from  error  of  that  one  Church  of  Christ,  that  in 
her,  eternal  truth  might  abide.  The  four  hundred 
other  churches  mentioned  are  then  most  certainly  the 
churches  of  error,  whose  founders  were  men. 

The  way  of  truth  must  be  an  easy  way  to  find 
an  open  thoroughfare  for  all,  where  not  only  the  rich 
and  the  learned,  but  the  poor  and  the  unlearned  trav- 

3  Matt,    xvi,    18. 

4  Matt,    xviii,    17. 

5  I   Tim.    iii,    15. 

6  John  xv,    26;   xvi,   13. 


Conclusion  331 

eler,  should,  with  unerring  certainty,  be  conducted  to 
the  goal  of  his  aspirations  and  desires.  That  God  in 
his  wisdom  did  provide  such  a  way  wherein  7  the  way- 
farer, though  he  be  a  fool,  need  not  err  therein,  is 
shown  in  the  Scriptures  and  in  the  teaching  of  the 
Fathers.  "And  a  path  and  a  way  shall  be  there,  and 
it  shall  be  called  the  holy  way  .  .  .  and  this  shall 
be  unto  you  a  straight  way,  so  that  fools  shall  not  err 
therein."  (Isaias  xxxv,  8.) 

It  is  recorded  in  the  divine  Word,  8  that  a  certain 
proud  man,  having  apparently  an  incurable  disease, 
refused  a  proffered  remedy  because  of  its  simplicity 
and  ease  of  application.  So  with  the  truth,  humility 
rather  than  great  learning  is  the  chief  requisite  for  the 
search.  We  need  not  go  abroad ;  truth  is  the  nearest 
of  all  things  to  us.  What  is  truth,  asked  Pilate  of 
the  Divine  Man  of  Galilee?  What  is  truth,  ask  the 
"rival  churches,"  where  is  it  to  be  found?  The  answer 
is  found  in  "the  open  Bible,"  and  in  the  words  of  the 
divine  Saviour  of  men  expounded  to  us  by  his  rep- 
resentative, the  Church.  This  answer  once  accepted 
sets  at  rest  all  doubts.  It  is  the  one  sure  guide-post 
to  the  truth  eternal.  Among  the  cross-roads  this 
points  to  the  only  true  way. 

Strange  to  say,  "the  plain  and  simple  language  of 
the  Bible,"  that  answers  this  question,  seems  to  awaken 
in  the  hearts  of  our  brethren  of  the  Christian  name, 
sentiments  akin  to  those  of  the  contemptuous  Syrian, 
as  he  first  beheld  the  semi-turbid  waters  of  the  Jordan. 

7  Isais   xxxv,    8. 

8  IV   Kings,    5. 


332  Conclusion 

"Upon  this  rock  (Peter)  I  will  build  my  church  and 
the  gates  of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it."  It  is 
necessary  then  in  the  search  for  truth  but  to  look  for 
the  Church  built  on  Peter,  and  any  fool  should  be 
able  to  find  that,  as  in  the  assertion  of  the  Catholic 
Church  to  the  right  of  that  particular  foundation,  she 
has  never  heard  of  a  rival  claimant.  Among  the 
countless  authors  of  sects,  cults,  and  fads,  no  one 
has  been  allowed  to  claim  a  participation  in  the  rock; 
thus  leaving  that  foundation  as  the  great  distinguish- 
ing mark  of  the  one,  true  and  only  Church  founded 
by  the  eternal  Son  of  God ! 

How  easy  then  to  find  the  truth;  how  easy  to  rec- 
ognize God's  Church,  founded  upon  the  rock,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  the  temporal  works  of  man  founded 
upon  the  shifting  sands,  emblems  of  insecurity  and 
endless  change.  Seeing  that  in  the  foregoing  pages 
the  more  thorough  the  investigation,  the  more  conclu- 
sive the  conviction,  that  in  the  one  Church  built  on 
Peter,  by  Christ  himself,  we  have  found  the  truth  for 
which  we  so  long  have  vainly  sought;  let  us  not  under- 
value it  because  we  have  found  the  priceless  treasure 
in  the  old  well  trodden  paths,  rather  than  in  the  new, 
or  because  it  comes  unattended  by  blare  of  trumpets 
such  as  Naaman  thought  to  be  the  fitting  accompani- 
ments of  his  cure;  but  with  true  humility  wash  in  the 
Jordan  near  at  hand,  without  thought  of  broader, 
fairer,  rivers  in  distant  lands. 

But  if,  in  blind  and  unreasoning  submission  to  an- 
cient prejudices,  our  friends  will  seek  to  maintain  that 
this  Church — whose  foundation,  being  solidity  itself, 


Conclusion  333 

effectually  preserved  the  superstructure  from  change 
and  decay — as  time  went  on  finally  succumbed  to  hu- 
man wiles  and  fell  from  its  original  uprightness  like 
a  strong  tower  overturned,  we  ask:  If  this  were  true 
of  the  Church  built  upon  a  rock,  what  confidence  can 
be  reposed  in  the  various  so-called  churches  of  "the 
reformers"  built  upon  the  sand?  Moreover,  on  whose 
warrant  do  we  rely  for  the  permanent  stability  of  the 
Church  of  Christ?  Is  it  not  on  the  words  of  Christ 
himself,  its  founder,  who  said,  "Heaven  and  earth 
shall  pass  away  but  my  word  shall  not  pass  away." 
(Luke  xxi,  33.) 

What  perversion  of  reason  this,  to  reject  the  teach- 
ing of  the  only  Church  claiming  divine  foundation  and 
the  ability  to  declare  the  truth  infallibly:  and  put  trust 
in  churches  whose  chief  dogma — and  the  one  to  which 
all  subscribe — is  their  liability  to  teach  error !  If  our 
divine  Lord  was  not  the  founder  of  the  Church  of  pre- 
reformation  days,  will  our  friends  kindly  tell  us  who 
was?  We  are  able  to  tell  them  the  name  of  the 
man,  or  men,  who  were  the  founders  of  every  prot- 
estant  church  in  existence.  That  the  Catholic  Church 
was  the  first  Church  is  shown  by  protestants  them- 
selves, who  every  time  they  pronounce  their  own 
name  acknowledge  that  Church  a  prior  fact.  Had 
there  not  first  been  catholics,  there  could  have  been 
no  protestants. 

The  doctrines  of  the  Church  herein  specialized  have 
been  traced  to  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  era  and 
are  conclusive  as  evidence  concerning  the  establish- 
ment of  those  doctrines  in  the  first  ages  of  the  faith, 


334  Conclusion 

with  which  we  are  familiar  at  the  present  day.  As 
St.  Peter  received  the  keys  of  the  kingdom,  we  find 
him  the  head  shepherd  of  the  flock;  it  was  an  every-day 
expression  in  those  days  that  "the  Church  was  built 
on  Peter."  St.  Paul  says  "we  have  an  altar,"  and 
lo,  in  every  Church  an  altar  is  found.  As  an  altar 
presupposes  a  sacrifice,  we  find  the  sacrifice  of  the 
new  law  called  the  Mass,  everywhere  offered  "from 
the  rising  of  the  sun  to  the  going  down  of  the  same." 

Confession  as  required  by  the  New  Testament,  is 
found  among  us,  and  those  also  who  separated  from 
us  before  "The  Great  Reformation."  In  the  light  of 
the  early  Church  History  written  by  the  Fathers — not 
in  a  controversial  spirit,  because  there  was  no  con- 
troversy then — can  be  seen  how  the  working  machinery 
was  first  put  in  order,  together  with  the  Gospel  teach- 
ings, beliefs  and  practices  of  the  Church  at  this  early 
day. 

The  shrewd  "reformers,"  seeing  in  this  early  history 
of  the  Fathers,  the  condemnatory  witness  to  their  in- 
novations, made  haste  to  declare  that  everything  neces- 
sary to  salvation  was  contained  in  the  Bible.  By  the 
Bible,  was  of  course,  meant  Wycliffe's  false  transla- 
tion, and  the  explanation  of  its  texts  was  by  private 
interpretation,  without  reference  to  the  understanding 
of  the  same  by  the  first  professors  of  the  Christian 
faith. 

Here  then  were  effaced  the  records  of  fifteen  cen- 
turies of  Church  history.  In  this  complete  break  with 
the  past  no  further  attention  was  to  be  accorded  to  the 
first  teachers  of  Christianity,  many  of  whom  had  been 


Conclusion  335 

instructed  by  the  pupils  of  apostolic  men.  What  the 
primitive  Fathers  taught,  or  what  they  thought,  "the 
reformers"  did  not  care  to  know.  Because  the  past 
was  an  undesirable  witness  to  their  new  departures 
from  the  form  of  sound  words,  its  voice  must  needs 
be  stifled  in  a  stentorian  trumpeting  of  "The  Great 
Reformation."  Here,  if  we  will  hear  "the  reformers," 
the  "pure  Gospel,"  freed  from  the  shackles  of  Rome, 
was  to  have  free  course  and  be  glorified.  Here,  by  the 
assistance — most  opportune — of  the  art  of  printing,  all 
were  to  drink  from  the  Gospel  fount  before  kept  under 
lock  and  key  by  those  seeking  profit  from  the  people's 
ignorance. 

Now  that  four  centuries  have  passed,  have  these 
Utopian  dreams  been  realized?  Private  judgment  as  a 
rule  for  explaining  Scripture,  has  resulted  in  as  many 
conflicting  interpretations  as  there  have  been  inter- 
preters, until  all  certainty  in  doctrinal  belief  has  been 
lost.  The  children  of  "the  reformers"  are  proverbially 
reticent  when  creeds  are  referred  to,  and  some  among 
the  more  progressive  have  declared  from  rostrum  and 
pulpit,  that  9  "creeds  are  passing  away."  Now,  if  prot- 
estants  can  no  longer  listen  to  the  summary  of  the 
faith  contained  in  a  creed,  what  may  be  assumed  re- 
garding their  attitude  toward  the  faith  entire?  Are 
these  the  days  mentioned  in  Scripture  when  men  "will 
no  longer  endure  sound  doctrine"? 

As  a  further  consequence  of  "reforming"  the  doc- 
trines of  God,  is  seen  the  great  increase  in  crimes  and 
disorders  of  all  kinds,  and  those  who  reason  on  right 

9  Trinity   Episcopal    Church,    San   Francisco. 


336  Conclusion 

lines  will  not  long"  be  in  doubt  concerning  the  cause. 
The  representatives  of  twentieth  century  Christianity 
have  been  quick  in  their  appreciation  of  those  hired 
shepherds  who,  yielding  to  pressure  from  the  pews, 
have  kindly  consented  to  reassure  their  sheep  anent 
the  fire  unquenchable,  and  to  consider  hell  as  a  phan- 
tasy of  the  dark  ages.  They  readily  enough  accept 
Scriptural  authority  for  life  everlasting,  but  deny  the 
same,  as  proof  of  everlasting  death,  which  means 
eternal  damnation.  In  an  excessive  hope  anent  the 
mercy  of  God,  they  forget  the  majesty  of  the  great 
Lawgiver,  whose  sword  is  one  of  inexorable  justice. 

It  looks  well  in  magazine  articles  and  poems  to 
dilate  our  fancy  with  the  statement  that  "punishment 
is  reformatory;  that  right  actions  spring  from  a  love 
of  our  fellow  man,  of  justice,  of  right;  and  not  from 
slavish  fear."  This  is  a  happy  thought,  but  the  falsity 
of  it  is,  that  for  the  greater  number,  the  knoivledgc 
of  right  is  insufficient  to  insure  right  doing. 

It  is  not  an  unwarranted  supposition  that  many  who 
have  been  strongly  tempted  to  do  wrong  did  not  suc- 
cumb, largely  through  fear  of  detection  and  punish- 
ment. If  the  motive  that  deterred  them  was  question- 
able, the  result  was  unquestionable,  which  leads  one 
to  think  that  to  obey  God  through  a  wholesome  fear 
of  his  judgments,  is  greater  wisdom,  than  to  disobey 
him  through  lack  of  fear  of  his  retributive  justice. 

"Fear   God   and   keep   his   commandments." 

Although  our  best  motives  are  superior  to  those 
mentioned,  they  are  often  inferior  to  what  we  think 
them,  and  at  best  will  not  stand  the  searchlight  of 


Conclusion  337 

God's  scrutiny,  for  we  are  but  weak  children  of  a 
parentage,  which,  through  temptation,  sinned  and  fell 
from  its  high  estate.  Since  the  happening  of  that — 
for  us  unfortunate  event — the  tendency  of  all  mankind, 
unrestrained  by  God's  grace,  spiritual  enlightenment, 
and  belief  in  rewards  and  punishments,  is  to  descend 
the  moral  gamut  to  the  depths  of  that  paganism  from 
which  our  progenitors  were  raised  by  the  first  preach- 
ing of  the  Gospel. 

To  the  efforts  made  for  the  abolishment  of  hell,  by 
modern  protestants,  may  be  largely  attributed  what 
may  be  called  a  general  breakdown  in  the  morals  of 
mankind.  We  are  as  the  children  of  a  much  too 
indulgent  parent,  from  whom  the  scepter  of  family 
authority  has  been  wrested,  and  in  which  punishment 
no  longer  follows  disobedience.  It  is  above  all  things 
sad,  that  we  should  need  a  hell  to  drive  us  into  heaven; 
but  salutary  fear  of  the  judgments  which  God  has 
pronounced  against  the  sinner,  has  done  more  to  peo- 
ple heaven  with  the  redeemed  of  Christ,  than  per- 
haps any  other  motive.  Those  who  fear  reptiles,  take 
heed  to  their  steps.  Those  who  fear  hell,  shun  the 
broad  way,  and  easy  grade,  leading  to  that  destination. 

As  the  attempted  abolition  of  hell  has  been  attrib- 
uted to  modern  protestants,  a  quotation  from  one  of 
their  number  is  introduced  in  confirmation.  "  Rev. 
Rector  W.  A.  Guerry  says:  "In  our  reaction  against 
the  hard  and  rigid  theology  of  our  puritan  forefathers 
and  the  views  which  prevailed  even  in  our  own 


10  Eccle.    xii,    13. 

11  Rev.   W.   A.   Guerry,   "The  Churchman,"    Sept.   29,    1906. 


338  Conclusion 

Church  a  generation  ago,  touching  the  irrevocable  fate 
of  the  damned,  the  pendulum  bids  fair  to  swing  too 
far  in  the  opposite  direction.  We  preach  to-day  an 
easy  and  consoling  Gospel  rather  than  the  strong  and 
virile  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ,  which  did  not  hesitate 
to  talk  about  the  horror  of  the  outer  darkness  and  the 
weeping  and  gnashing  of  teeth  of  those  who  had  been 
cast  out." 

The  protestant  Doctor  here  admits  that  his  Church 
has  changed  its  belief,  in  one  generation,  concerning 
hell.  Admits  that  his  Church  does  not  preach  the 
Gospel  of  Christ,  but  a  manufactured  gospel  conde- 
scendingly consolatory  to  the  pew  holders! 

Having  now  traced  briefly  the  history  of  the  decline 
of  protestant  faith  from  the  time  of  its  institution  to 
the  present  day,  where,  in  its  devious  wanderings  and 
turnings,  it  is  lost  to  view  in  many  new  and  dangerous 
superstitions ;  let  us  turn  and  for  a  moment  fix  our 
attention  upon  the  one  true  Church  of  the  one  true 
God,  the  Holy  Catholic  and  Apostolic  Church. 

If  there  were  many  abuses  of  doctrines  in  the 
Church  prior  to  "The  Great  Reformation,"  they  serve 
to  remind  us  that  all  good  things  have  at  some  time 
been  misused.  The  desirability  of  a  true  reformation 
in  the  lives  of  the  many  was  acknowledged  by  all  who 
had  the  welfare  of  the  true  faith  at  heart.  If  "the 
reformers"  had  been  what  their  name  signified,  they 
might  have  rendered  valuable  aid  in  the  accomplish- 
ment within  the  Church  of  a  true  reformation,  but 
unfortunately  they  were  revolutionists  rather  than  re- 
formers. 


Conclusion  339 

We  have  listened  to  the  panegyrics  of  Macaulay  and 
Gladstone,  in  their  unguarded  moments ;  let  us  now 
hear  another  gifted  descendant  of  the  reformers.  Dr. 
Lord  says :  12  "And  what  a  marvelous  vitality  it  (the 
Church)  seems  to  have!  It  has  survived  the  attacks 
of  its  countless  enemies;  it  has  recovered  from  the 
shock  of  the  Reformation;  it  still  remains  majestic  and 
powerful,  extending  its  arms  of  paternal  love  .  .  . 
over  half  of  Christendom. 

"As  a  temporal  government  rivaling  kings  in  the 
pomp  of  war  and  the  pride  of  armies  it  may  be  pass- 
ing away;  but  as  an  organization  to  diffuse  and  con- 
serve religious  truths  ...  it  seems  to  be  as  potent 
as  ever.  It  is  still  sending  its  missionaries,  its  prelates, 
and  its  cardinals  into  the  heart  of  protestant  countries, 
who  anticipate  and  boast  of  new  victories.  It  derides 
the  dissensions  and  the  rationalistic  speculations  of 
protestants,  and  predicts  that  they  will  either  become 
open  pagans  or  re-enter  the  fold  of  St.  Peter. 

"No  longer  do  angry  partisans  call  it  the  'Beast'  or 
the  'Scarlet  Woman'  or  the  predicted  'Antichrist/  since 
its  creeds  in  their  vital  points  are  more  in  harmony 
with  the  theology  of  venerated  Fathers  than  those  of 
some  of  the  progressive  parties  which  call  themselves 
protestant. 

"In  Germany,  in  France — shall  I  add  in  England  and 
America? — it  is  more  in  earnest,  and  more  laborious 
and  self-denying  than  many  sects  among  the  protest- 
ants.  In  Germany — in  those  very  seats  of  learning  and 
power  which  once  were  kindled  into  lofty  enthusiasm 

12  Lord's    "Beacon    Lights,"    Vol.    ii,    p.    136. 


34-O  Conclusion 

by  the  voice  of  Luther — who  is  it  that  desert  the 
Churches  and  disregard  the"  sacraments,  the  catholics 
or  the  protestants  ?" 

This  unlooked-for  manifestation  of  fairness,  so  con- 
tradictory to  previous  writings,  can  be  received  only 
upon  the  supposition  that,  in  seeking  inspiration  from 
nature,  this  gifted  writer  had  encountered  some  wan- 
dering zephyr  blowing  over  the  sun-lit  fields  of  spring, 
which  had,  kindly  for  him,  lifted  the  prenatal  veil  of 
prejudice  that  enshrouded  his  mental  vision,  and  be- 
stowed a  gleam  of  light  in  which  to  pen  these  words. 

In  God's  good  time,  by  the  hands  of  his  saints,  the 
Church  was  reformed  without  the  shedding  of  blood 
or  the  changing  of  a  doctrine.  She  teaches  the  same 
faith  at  the  present  day  that  she  taught  in  days  past 
to  the  Christians  in  the  catacombs  on  the  Appian  Way; 
the  same  that  gave  the  martyrs  courage  to  face  the 
lions  in  the  amphitheater  at  Rome ;  that  Augustine 
brought  to  England,  and  Boniface  to  Germany ;  by 
which  St.  Francis  Xavier  Christianized  the  Indies  and 
Japan,  and  in  fine,  the  same  by  which  all  the  nations 
of  the  earth  first  heard  the  name  of  Christ. 

The  Church  of  the  past,  the  present,  and  the  future, 
venerable  with  age  when  protestantism  first  saw  light, 
yet  still  in  the  spring-time  of  life.  She  has  seen  the 
rise  of  all  the  nations  of  earth,  and  will  be  here  to 
chronicle  the  downfall  of  all  governments  and  peoples 
who  in  the  days  of  their  prosperity  forget  God. 

The  Church  that  in  all  ages  has  suffered  persecu- 
tion by  the  world,  because  it  was  not  of  the  world. 
The  Church  which  is  the  foe  of  the  oppressor  and  the 


Conclusion  341 

liberator  of  the  slave.  At  her  hands  the  orphan  finds 
succor  and  the  aged  a  home.  At  her  altars  the  rich  and 
the  poor,  the  beggar  and  the  prince,  are  equal.  The 
Catholic  Church  is  the  most  perfect  expression  of  pure 
democracy  on  the  earth  to-day,  and  as  her  divine  Lord, 
so  she  is  no  respecter  of  persons.  While  sternly  de- 
nunciatory of  sin,  yet  she  ever  extends  her  arms  im- 
ploringly towards  the  wandering  sinner  inviting  his 
return. 

Though  shame  be  on  the  name  or  contagious  diseases 
threaten  the  body;  should  chains,  the  scaffold  even, 
confront;  the  true  shepherd  would  not  ignore  the  dis- 
graced or  infirm  sheep  of  his  flock,  for  the  ear  of 
the  catholic  priest  is  ever  open  to  the  cry  of  the  af- 
flicted and  distressed.  While  showing  due  care  for 
the  best  interests  of  those  in  high  stations  of  life,  he 
is  better  known  as  the  friend  and  counselor  of  the 
poor. 

The  voice  of  the  true  shepherd  will  be  the  last  sound 
to  reach  our  ears,  as  the  ebb  tide  rolls  out  to  the  wait- 
ing sea,  and  the  mists  and  the  darkness  of  that  night 
in  which  no  one  can  see  to  repair  the  imperfections  of 
their  work — settles  down  upon  us  as  we  float  out  to 
that  "new  and  undiscovered  country"  beyond  the  nar- 
row boundaries  of  time. 

Not  even  death  can  place  us  beyond  the  faithful 
shepherd's  ministrations;  for  not  until  released  from 
purgatorial  fires — the  hay,  wood,  stubble,  burned — and 
we  the  face  of  the  great  Shepherd,  Jesus  the  Son  of 
God,  behold,  will  the  voice  of  fervent  supplication 


342  Conclusion 

cease  to  rise  on  high  for  us  in  the  Church  Militant 
here  below. 

The  Catholic  Church  stands  to-day  by  far  the  noblest 
institution  on  earth,  the  unchangeable  Church  of  the 
unchangeable  God,  rightly  claiming  the  submission  of 
every  soul  on  earth.  The  infallible,  the  indefectible, 
the  holy.  The  mouthpiece  of  God  to  declare  his  will 
to  the  nations,  and  the  channel  of  his  graces  to  the 
souls  of  men.  Her  portals  are  as  the  gates  of  heaven 
to  weary  souls,  her  tabernacles  the  dwelling  places  of 
the  august  "Prisoner  of  Love,"  that  silent  sentinel  of 
the  altar  sweetly  reposing  but  watching  always  for  the 
hour  when  foot-sore  and  weary  with  the  chase  after 
earthly  goods  and  honors  transitory,  his  children  frail, 
but  yet  the  objects  of  a  Redeemer's  love,  will  return 
to  the  altar  of  God,  "to  God  who  rejoiceth  their 
youth,"  where  he,  under  the  sacramental  veils  hides 
his  resplendent  face,  but  floods  the  souls  of  contrite 
sinners  with  the  light  and  glory  of  his  love. 

This  is  the  heavenly  benediction.  This  is  that  per- 
fect peace  that  comes  to  us  when  we,  freed  by  the 
great  consolatory  Sacrament  of  penance  from  the  bur- 
den of  our  transgressions,  receive,  not  bread  and  wine, 
the  emblems  of  earth's  joys  and  feasts,  but  the  bread 
of  heaven  which  is  the  Body  and  the  Blood  of  our 
divine  Redeemer  Christ  the  Lord. 

Then  is  heaven  opened  and  peace  as  a  broad  river 
under  God's  sunlight  turned  to  gold,  and  flowing  in 
beauty  and  great  majesty  to  the  sea,  fills  all  hearts,  as 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  one  eternal 
God,  looks  down  upon  his  children  with  countenance 
benign,  and  gives  his  blessings  manifold  to  all. 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON  THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW 

AN  INITIAL  FINE  OF  25  CENTS 

WILL.  BE  ASSESSED  FOR  FAILURE  TO  RETURN 
THIS  BOOK  ON  THE  DATE  DUE.  THE  PENALTY 
WILL  INCREASE  TO  SO  CENTS  ON  THE  FOURTH 
DAY  AND  TO  $1.OO  ON  THE  SEVENTH  DAY 
OVERDUE. 


JEFB   18 


• 


24MSOBG 


^€€^ 


LD  21-100m-7,'33 


YC   15563 


HJI 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


